Counter attack
by AchaeaMG
Summary: Beca has a deal with her father. She promised to play on the Barden field hockey team for a year and he would then help her move to LA. Things don't go as expected.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first try at a fanfic. All comments are welcome. I am not a native English speaker, so if anybody wants to proofread future chapters, please let me know.**

* * *

Beca stepped out of the cab and immediately turned to the trunk to collect her bags. She must look comically small carrying her big stick bag and her equipment bag. She refused every help from the cabby, not trusting her bags in anyone's hands but her own. Somewhere on the way to her dorm she got handed a rape whistle, which was now hanging from her mouth. When she finally arrived at her dorm, she let her sports bags drop with a sigh. After an unpleasant and luckily short conversation with her new roommate, Kimmy Jin, she started setting up her equipment. Just when she finished, she heard a knock on the door. A familiar voice sounded.

"Hey, this is campus police. Hide your wine coolers!".

Her father walked in, greeting Kimmy Jin, but not getting much of a response, and turned his attention to his daughter.

"Do you have all your equipment?"

Beca shrugged, knowing he wasn't talking about her DJ equipment. She had checked her hockey bags twice at home, but didn't want to give her father the satisfaction. He wasn't looking to happy with her reaction.

"I know you don't want to be here, but you know the deal. You go to college, for free may I add, and play hockey here. If you still do not like it here after a year, I will personally help you move to LA."

Beca nodded reluctantly, knowing the angle her father was playing. They used to enjoy hockey together, and he probably expected to reconnect with her over hockey. She, however, was not so sure. She had left her high school team on bad terms, and although she was slightly looking forward to playing again (okay, maybe more that slightly), she also knew that she generally did not connect to a team easily. The only reason she wasn't forced to leave her high school team earlier, was that she was their top scorer, so they needed her. Her father brought her back to reality.

"So are you ready for tryouts tonight?"

Beca nodded again. She had seen some footage of the team, and knew that she could at least match their skill. They usually performed decently in the league, but last year the team surprisingly found themselves in the championship finals. Unfortunately, the team choked after their captain missed a penalty stroke when they were 1-0 up. They lost with a disappointing score of 6-1 eventually. Beca had been training all summer, certainly not to please her father, but mostly to get out of the house. She actually enjoyed training, it helped keep her mind occupied.

"Okay, well, good luck!"

Her father looked disappointed with her lack of vocal response, but did eventually leave. Beca flopped down at her desk and started working on a mix she had thought up during the previous conversation. She had a few hours to kill before her tryouts and like training, mixing kept her mind occupied as well. She was secretely nervous for the tryouts, even though she didn't want to admit that to anyone.

* * *

Beca was early, she liked to experience the feel of the field before the tryouts. Even though she was fifteen minutes early, she wasn't the first on the field. On the opposite side she saw a tall blonde talking to a small redhead. While she walked over, she saw the two girls eyeing her, the blonde looking quite disappointed, while the redhead was smiling. Beca was aware that she did not look like a conventional hockey player. She was wearing a plain dark blue jersey, black shorts and black socks. Even more unconventional was her old green stick bag, which could only hold one stick. The bag was over forty years old, and could not hold her other equipment. She did own bigger bags, but always resorted to the old bag for occasions like this, since she believed it would bring her good luck. She got it from her grandfather, who started her passion for the game.

She tried ignoring the girls still eyeing her, put down her bags and grabbed a stick and ball. She started moving the ball, lifting it up from time to time. After a while she moved to the goal, shooting some hard balls at the backboard. She liked the way the field felt, it was a bit bouncy, but not too much, and she felt confident. She saw the tall blonde walking up to her in her peripheral. She stopped shooting and turned just in time to catch the bright yellow vest coming her way.

"Put that on and gather at the dug-out", the blonde said with in a harsh tone.

Beca now took in the field anew and saw that the group of girls had significantly expanded. About 25 girls had gathered at the dug-outs, some wearing the bright yellow vest she was also holding, others wearing the red Barden jerseys. All jerseys and vests were numbered, and Beca saw she was handed vest number 9 as she put it on. Beca recognized the two coaches walking up to the group. The man in front looked quite young, he wore his black hair combed back and had a stern look on his face. The woman following him had blond hair to her shoulder and also didn't wear an especially friendly look, but still looked more approachable than the man in front. The man positioned himself in front of the group.

"My name is Coach Smith. This is my assistant Dawson. We are running a serious team here. If you are selected, I expect a hundred percent from you. You are expected to be here every practice and bring your best. The team will be your number one priority. If you can't do that, you can leave now."

Everybody went silent but nobody walked out. Coach continued his speech.

"If you want to make the team, you need to show your best this week. We will pick the best sixteen players at the end of the week. Don't think it's going to be like your high school team, this is a step up. We will work on your running skills and core strength. We will push you to your limits. "

He then gestured to the tall blonde.

"Aubrey will be leading the warm up, let's go."

This seemed to be the cue for the blonde, apparently named Aubrey, and she commanded everybody to drop their gear and follow her. After a few rounds of easy running around the field they started doing warmup drills in their running. Then Aubrey stepped it up a notch, increasing both speed and intensity of the drills. Beca could easily keep up, but saw a few of the other girls struggling. This didn't feel like a warm up anymore, but started to turn more into running practice. After about half an hour of pushing the new girls to their limits, Aubrey allowed a short pause. Beca walked to her bag, where a rather large blond was already drinking water.

"Hey, you seem to be holding up just fine!"

Beca nodded politely and then saw that the girl was not looking good, so she decided to enquire on her well-being. The blonde smiled at her and started talking in a thick Australian accent.

"I'm fine, just not a big fan of vertical running. I'm fat Amy, by the way."

"Beca. You call yourself fat Amy?"

"Yeah, so twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back."

Beca wondered what the large girl was doing here trying out, but didn't get that much time to ponder upon the matter, because soon they were called over for core strength. This consisted of planks, push-ups, sit-ups and a variety of other drills. Beca could still keep up, since she had worked on her core strength over the summer. She saw fat Amy collapsing beside her halfway through the workout. This earned the entire group of girls twenty additional push-ups. When Aubrey finally announced a short break and called for them to gear up, the sighs were audible. An hour in, they still hadn't touched a stick, and Beca wondered how they would select the best players.

They started by passing the ball, and everyone was asked to pair up. Before Beca could ask Amy, she was already paired up with a tall brunette, so she looked around to see if there were any free girls. The redhead she saw talking to Aubrey earlier seemed to still be without a partner, so Beca walked up to her.

"Hey, do you want to pair up?"

The redhead looked at her with a fond look in her eyes, but was then called over by Aubrey, and turned to Beca with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Aubrey is my usual passing partner."

She shot one more smile at Beca and turned away. Beca ended up passing with an Asian girl that didn't seem to talk at all. She could only make up that her name was Lilly. After passing they did a simple exercise that ended in a shot on goal to warm up the keeper, who was called Cynthia-Rose. The exercise consisted of three passes follow by the shot. Beca was content with her first shot on goal, although it was about a centimeter wide, until she heard the annoying blonde.

"Number nine, 10 push-ups!"

She turned around with a questioning look. This caused Aubrey to stop the exercise as she turned towards Beca.

"If your shot is not on target, you do ten push-ups, that's the rule."

Beca really wanted to question it, and just as she was about to do so, she saw the redhead shake her head with a warning look. She looked back at the blonde and could see that Aubrey would use any excuse to wear her out and prove she couldn't keep up. She dropped and did ten push-ups, which seemed to shut Aubrey up for the time being. She then caught the eyes of the redhead, who nodded encouragingly, to which she returned her signature smirk.

The other exercises were not really eventful and were mainly focussed on shooting on goal. Although Beca had a good shot, this was not her best feature, and she hoped that she had a chance to use her other skills. This chance came soon enough when after almost two hours of training they held a practice match. The teams were oldies versus newbies. They would play eleven on eleven and Beca was in the newbies team with Amy, Lilly and the tall brunette Amy had been passing with, as well as some girls she hadn't really paid any attention to yet. Dawson would referee the match-up.

Just as a discussion was started on who would get Cynthia-Rose as goalie, a blonde guy walked onto the field, wearing legguards and carrying a goalie bag. Dawson ran over and after a short exchange he agreed to be the newbies keeper. He came over to their huddle at the top of the D.

"Hi, my name is Jesse, I am actually trying out for the men's team, but I could use a nice warmup."

After a round of introductions their team was set up and Beca was comfortable as left half. Amy and the brunette, who had introduced herself as Stacie, had taken the lead and positioned everybody on the field. As soon as the play began Amy was shouting instructions from her defensive position.

* * *

The game started with some back and forth scrambling, but eventually the older girls were able to set up a decent attack. They had put high pressure on the newbies defense, which gave them a free hit just outside the 23. Aubrey lined up for the shot, as Beca stood between her and the D. Aubrey tried the direct hit, which Beca had expected and she was able to get away with it. She ran up the sideline and heard Stacie, who had ran up the center of the field, call for the ball. Beca made the pass allowing a one-on-one with between Stacie and Cynthia Rose. Stacie made a great fake to the left and easily shot the ball from the right into the net.

Aubrey looked pissed and showed this in the field. She shouted orders at her team, which eventually got them the penalty corner. The newbie defense lined up in the goal while Aubrey set up at the top of the D. The redhead, Beca had still not caught her name, was set to inject. The injection was perfect and Aubrey hit the ball right in the lower right corner. She wasn't celebrating, but returned to her position in defense immediately. Coach Smith called for a short huddle for each of the teams to regroup.

After the girls had gathered, Amy and Stacie talked through a few minor issues, insisting they needed better passing and hold on to the ball more. Beca eyed their opponents and saw Aubrey talk vigorously to her players. She decided that in order to take this game, they had to play a different strategy. She knew exactly what would break up their play, so she returned her attention to her own team and starting explaining her strategy.

"Guys, they are playing with extremely high press. They want to force the ball down our left, so it is easy pickings for their right defender. They will not allow us to get our head up, so you need to know what to do before you pick up the ball. In offense they can find each other blindly, the only way to counter this is to reduce press and force the runs instead of the passes. We can handle them one-on-one. Don't put any pressure on the ball until they are in our half, and play for the counter on interception."

The girls around her nodded and looked at her admiringly. Dawson blew the whistle to start them for a second half. As soon as possession was with the older girls, the newbies dropped back, and Aubrey seemed temporarily fazed by this. She started walking with the ball, but couldn't really find a pass, so she dropped the ball to her defender at the sideline. After a few times back and forth they understood that they needed to make the play. They passed in some players in midfield, but these players immediately had to drop the ball back to defense due to the lack of passing options. Eventually Aubrey tried a scoop, which was picked up nicely by Amy in defense. She then played a fast ball to her center midfielder, who found Stacie for the counter. Stacie finished the attack with a tomahawk shot over the shoulder of Cynthia-Rose.

After this goal the newbies locked up the game, not allowing any passes, and held their own. Aubrey got increasingly frustrated and started walking with the ball more and more. This resulted in a nice steal from Lilly, who was playing the left flank, and she was able to score on another counter.

Not long after Dawson blew for the end signal, and Aubrey stomped of the field. Most of the other girls came to congratulate the younger girls on their win. Beca saw the redhead giving each of the newbies a smile or pat on the back. She then turned to Beca and walked right up to her.

"Well played! You have a good strategic eye on the field. My name is Chloe by the way."

"Beca. Thanks, I used to watch a lot of games with my grandfather and he would always give me tips on how to counter certain plays."

Chloe nodded, but to Beca's dismay, was called over by Aubrey immediately after, so she shrugged apologetically and ran towards Aubrey. Beca saw Amy collapse on the bench and was just about to walk over as she felt a pat on her back.

"Good game out there, you really know your hockey. Sorry about the penalty corner, I should have stopped that."

Beca turned around to see the blonde keeper smiling broadly. She gave him a small nod and was just about to walk away as he continued talking.

"Hey, we should hang out some time, you know, both newbies wanting to get on a team. Do you like films?"

Beca was temporarily fazed by this request, but quickly recoverend and replied that she was not much of a film person.

"Well, we can do something else, what do you like?"

She wasn't going to shake him off, so she suggested the one thing she did like.

"If the field is free tomorrow, we could play a bit tomorrow, we could practice shoot-outs. I was going to do a workout anyway, so..."

Jesse seemed happy enough with this answer.

"I will check when the field is free. If you could put your number in my phone, I will let you know when to meet me here. We can be workout buddies!"

Beca reluctantly put her number in his phone and walked of to her bag. She packed up all her gear and seemed to be one of the last of the team to leave the field. On her way off she got a compliment from Dawson, which gave her a bit of confidence for the next training three days from now. This dissipated quickly when a tall blonde stepped into her path.

"We don't play half-court press, if you pull that in a league game they will walk right over you."

Beca couldn't hold in her snide remark, after showing so much restrain during practice.

"It worked well against you guys, didn't it?"

"You come out of high school thinking you're the best, but here, things are different. Getting on the team does not just depend on skills, you will also need a better attitude. Remember, I decide whether you make the team, so you better keep that attitude in check."

Beca knew she was in the danger zone, since the blonde looked like she was about to puke, so she just nodded. Aubrey luckily didn't linger and turned around to walk towards a redhead with a worried look in her eyes. When she saw that the conversation had not escalated she smiled at Beca with a grateful look, before turning her attention to Aubrey. Beca counted herself lucky that Chloe would be on the field for the next training, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to restrain herself around Aubrey.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for the kind words! I will try to update this regularly.**

* * *

Classes had not yet started and Beca didn't have anywhere to be, so when Jesse texted her to meet him on the field in an hour, she was ready to go. He was already on the field doing some warmup drills when she arrived. As he saw her, he shot her a wide smile and a small wave. She ran up to the sideline, put down her bags, and started a short warming up herself. After she felt properly warmed up, Jesse took his spot on the goal line and she shot some easy balls.

After a while she started shooting harder balls, but Jesse was surprisingly quick on his feet and managed to stop most of her efforts. They continued practicing some one-on-ones and shoot-outs which was a specialty of neither. Jesse gave her good advice, and after a few runs, Beca was able to get some nice goals. Jesse signaled that he needed something to drink, so they stopped for a minute and Jesse sat down in his goal. Beca decided to join him, just as Jesse got out his juice pouch.

"Seriously, you drink juice from a pouch, how are you not swamped with ladies right now?"

"Hey, it's healthier than those chemical sports drinks. Besides, you are definitely weirder, how do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking puppies!"

"They're fine, the endings are just way too predictable, the guy gets the girl and that girl sees dead people and Darth Vader is Luke's father."

"Oh, so you happen to guess the biggest cinematic reveal in history? And please don't tell me you knew that because Vader is German for father."

"Actually, it's not German, it's Dutch, but yeah, that's a dead giveaway."

She then got up and shot him a challenging look.

"I will watch a movie with you, if you stop at least half of my drag flicks."

"Deal!"

He jumped, probably already deciding over what movie he was going to use to convince her. Beca lined up six balls at the top of the D and set herself up. The first ball was fast, but wasn't placed well, so it was an easy save for Jesse. She then proceeded to drill the next five balls in all corners of the goal, and Jesse stood there helpless. Luckily, he was still smiling and jogged up to her.

"You are a beast, Mitchell, have you told your coach that you are a penalty corner specialist?"

"I think I'd better not for the time being, that Aubrey girl has it out for me, and she is current first pick for the penalty corner."

"Well, you might not be able to keep it a secret." He gestured towards the sideline, where Beca saw a familiar redhead watching over the field. As soon as she saw that they were looking her way, she jogged up to them. She was wearing her training gear, a bright pink top with green details and green shorts. The big stick bag she was carrying was swinging from side to side as she ran. Beca couldn't help but think that the redhead looked cute as she sported a huge grin. By the time Chloe had reached Beca and Jesse at the top of the D, she didn't stop, but ran straight into Beca's personal space to pull her in for an unexpected embrace.

Beca was taken by surprise and didn't really know how to respond. She loosely returned the hug, but started to freak out due to the invasion of her personal space. She never let people this close to her. Before she could completely freak out, she was luckily released from the redhead's grip, who was now staring at her intently. Beca had blacked out for a moment there and didn't really know what to say, so she looked down and tried to avoid the intense gaze directed at her. She was slightly disappointed, however, when the gaze was directed to Jesse.

"Can you stop?"

Jesse looked very confused, not really sure what he was doing wrong. When Chloe picked up on this, she explained that she wanted him to be a stopper at the top of the D. Jesse agreed and quickly removed his goalie gear to be able to get into the crouching position needed to stop the ball. Chloe took out her stick and set up at the backline, ready to inject. Beca recovered from the recent events after being taken aback by the embrace of the redhead. She would have protested, had she been able to, but since Chloe and Jesse were already set up, she decided to just go with it. Chloe first tried some injections so Jesse could get used to stopping the ball. After a few balls Beca set herself up a few steps behind Jesse, leaning slightly forward on her stick.

Beca hadn't practiced her penalty corner with a stopper in a long time, so the first few balls didn't have their usual power and placement. After a few goes, she got more comfortable with Jesse as stopper and she managed to shoot some nice balls in the upper corners. Chloe looked genuinely impressed as she walked over.

"You have a solid drag there, how have we not seen it in training yet?"

"I don't know I am any good in a real game, you know, with the pressure and all. Besides, Aubrey has a mean hit from the top of the D, so I guess it is not really needed."

"Sure, Aubrey's hit is good, but your placement and power is impeccable. Besides, almost every team in the competition knows her hit, so they are ready for it. We need some variation in our penalty corners. You definitely need to show this to the coach!"

"I'd rather not piss off Aubrey, she already seems not to fond of me, and I need to get on this team to keep my end of the deal with my father."

Immediately after she'd said that, Beca regretted it. Both Jesse and Chloe looked at her expectantly, but she ignored the looks and was grateful that they didn't press on. Chloe returned to the matter at hand.

"Well, Aubrey can't actually kick you off the team for being better than her, we need good players. Besides, I'm co-captain, so I have a say in this as well."

This surprised Beca, she had seen Chloe talk to Aubrey and all of the newbies a lot, but Aubrey had taken the lead in yesterday's training, so she just assumed Aubrey was the captain. Besides, Chloe seemed way too nice to be a captain, unlike Aubrey.

"Don't act so surprised, I know I don't seem like captain material, but being a captain is more than just shouting orders at your team. Aubrey handles that part, I handle the off field part."

That made more sense to Beca, so she nodded while Chloe continued. "I will talk to Coach tomorrow, then you can show him what you can do in training. I will deal with Aubrey, she can't possibly be angry if we win more because of this." Beca was not so sure, but agreed anyway, how could she refuse those big blue eyes?

* * *

The three of them did a few more corners before Jesse excused himself. He had a meeting for some sort of internship and was already late. This left Beca alone with her captain, who had a challenging look in her eyes.

"I bet you can't take me in a one-on-one."

Beca surely didn't want to back out, so she matched Chloe's expression. "Try me", she returned.

They set up a small playing field, indicating the goals with four leftover balls. They both geared up, they had both not been wearing shin guards for the penalty corners, and took opposing sides of their improvised field.

The captain allowed her freshman recruit to attack first. Beca ran the ball up to just outside Chloe's reach, but hadn't decided how she would take on her opponent.. Chloe saw the hesitation and made a successful jab tackle to steal the ball and ran it to the opposing goal. Since the brunette had momentum forward, she wasn't quick enough to recover, and was now looking at a very cocky redhead.

"Told you you wouldn't be able to take me!"

Beca was ready for the next play. She knew she shouldn't take to long to decide and used speed as her weapon. This took Chloe by surprise, as she was beaten by a simple lift over her stick. Beca was wearing her signature smirk while returning to her side of the field.

"Guess it was just beginner's luck."

The play continued and both girls were able to get some goals, while continuing their friendly trash talking. The game was very even, and Chloe was impressed by the way the opposing girl was playing and tricking her. She herself was one of the best midfielders in the league, but it took her years to get there. This freshman matched her skill l fresh out of high school!

After a while, both girls were tired and neither really knew what the score was anymore. Chloe declared the next goal the winning goal as Beca started her attack. Because of her fatigue, Beca was not able to move the ball quickly enough, and was again robbed of the ball by a quick jab tackle. However, Chloe was also tired and couldn't produce the speed she had earlier, allowing Beca to be back just in time. She surprised Chloe and took the ball, pushing out one last sprint to the opposing goal. Chloe tried to catch her, but couldn't get back in time, and saw the ball being pushed into her goal.

Beca threw up her hands in celebration and smirked at her captain. Chloe couldn't help but smile as the small, muscular girl looked really cute celebrating her victory. She tried to look disappointed, but couldn't keep that up for too long.

* * *

"So, what do I get for winning?"

Chloe thought about it for a while, before she answered: "I will make sure Aubrey doesn't kill you."

This seemed to satisfy the brunette, who nodded. They then started to clean up the field, before they both sat down in the dug-out.

"Why were you on the field today", Beca asked the redhead sitting beside her.

"As of next week, we will be training at least three times a week, I wanted to be ready for that. I have been training most of the summer. This is my last year and I want to make the most of it. We were so close to the championship last year. I'm sure we can beat those smug bastards this year, especially with your penalty corner."

Beca was taken aback by the harsh tone Chloe used when describing last year's champion, but quickly recovered. She considered just nodding, but felt comfortable enough with her captain to share her views on the matter.

"You know why they beat you last year, right? You have been playing full press the entire season, and it works well, until you're facing an opponent that is skilled in half-court press and counter hockey. I mean, look at the Netherlands, they waltz over teams like India, but always have to fight against teams like Korea. Individually, you were better, but you need to learn to adjust to the different kinds of press."

Chloe looked very surprised at the inside the young girl was displaying, but her face quickly fell, causing Beca to wondered if she should have kept her thoughts to herself.

"I am co-captain, but Aubrey is the captain in the field, and she doesn't believe anything has to cahnge. She trusts our current strategy enough and thinks we just have to execute it better."

"What about Smith and Dawson?"

"To be fair, Smith is a very good personal trainer, but doesn't know too much about hockey. He can handle substitutions, but Aubrey does most of the strategy. Dawson is very sweet and actually the better coach, but she is more of a team manager and wants to keep us all, including Coach Smith, happy."

Chloe looked defeated and Beca really didn't like that look on her captain, so she tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"What do you say about getting something to eat."

Chloe nodded eagerly. Both girls gathered their bags and started walking of the field. As they walked, Chloe linked her arm through Beca's, who was again taken by surprise at the sudden contact. She did like it, however, and decided she should get it together. She shot a quick smile at the gorgeous redhead beside her. This was normal behaviour for friends, right? Right?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you again for the kind words!** **I will try not to disappoint you.**

* * *

Hanging out with Chloe had been nice. They went to a small diner near campus. Chloe told stories about her last three years on the team and their almost championship run last year. They discussed some of the latest matches of the Hockey World League and their favorite international players. Somehow this led to a discussion on which of the Reinprecht sisters, who were currently both playing for the national team, was the most good-looking. Beca swore by Julia, while Chloe defended Katie. Neither wanted to give in, so after a while the subject of the conversation was changed to extreme workouts they had both endured during their time as a player. Beca actually had a very good time and talking to Chloe had been easy. Unfortunately Chloe's phone had buzzed after an hour and she had to run off to help Aubrey with something.

As Chloe got up to leave, Beca was extremely annoyed at her blonde captain and apparently this showed.

"Don't be too annoyed, it is not easy to run a team, you know. Besides, I will see you again at practice in two days."

Beca nodded, but didn't look much happier.

"Unless you're up for a recovery run tomorrow morning. I could meet you in front of Baker Hall at 9."

Beca's face lightened up. She wasn't much of a morning person, but she liked running and she liked hanging out with Chloe. This would be enough leverage to get her up by 9.

"I would like that, see you tomorrow!"

Chloe seemed satisfied and made her way to the exit. As she turned to walk away, Beca couldn't help but wonder what the text from Aubrey had said. Chloe hadn't given an explanation, and she had avoided all Beca's questions on the matter. She also seemed in a hurry to get away. Beca wasn't one to easily share, so she would understand the redhead not sharing, they only just met a day ago after all. This didn't lessen her curiosity. Luckily she had tomorrow morning to look forward to.

* * *

The next morning Beca had managed to get up in time to eat a banana for breakfast, get dressed, and head to the meeting place in front of Baker Hall. She liked to do a quick recovery run on days without practice, so the invitation had been very welcome. This also meant spending more time with her favorite captain. Chloe was already standing on the grass, dressed in her usual pink top and green shorts, but now wearing bright pink running shoes instead of her bright green hockey shoes. She was bent over, stretching her muscles and was oblivious of her surroundings. Beca couldn't help but admire the view before she stepped up to greet Chloe.

"Are you ready for this?"

Chloe looked up and immediately broke out in a huge grin. "Yeah, but today it's not a competition. I spoke with Coach Smith, he wanted to see your penalty corner before practice tomorrow, so you need to be at your best."

Beca nodded, knowing the older girl was right. After tomorrow the coaches would pick their team, and Beca had to bring her best to secure a spot.

"Do you know a nice route?"

Chloe nodded and started running. Beca followed immediately. They kept an easy tempo throughout the run. From time to time Chloe would indicate the direction they had to go, but apart from that, the girls didn't talk much. Beca didn't mind, she was used to running to her own music and never ran with others. Due to the lack of music, she was now focussed on her surroundings, trying to remember the route in order to be able to replicate it when Chloe wasn't running with her.

Near the end of the run, they were running over a sidewalk and in order to avoid the passersby Beca was running behind Chloe. This gave her a good look at the athletic body of the redhead. She did not want to be creepy, but couldn't help but admire the beautiful toned legs of her captain, the muscular shoulders, and the bright red hair that was tight back in a ponytail. The sight caused her to lose focus of her surroundings and she had not seen that the two of them had arrived at their departure point in front of Baker Hall. Chloe suddenly stopped and turned and Beca ran right into her. Chloe fell to the floor and could partially break her fall, but right as she hit the ground, Beca fell on top of her. For a split second, neither really knew what had happened, before Beca quickly got up and proceeded to help her victim get up.

"Shit, sorry! Are you okay?"

Chloe found the worry on Beca's face endearing and smiled reassuringly.

"I'm fine, really. I'm tough, see", she said while flexing her biceps. This elicited the response she was hoping for. Beca couldn't help but laugh at the incredibly adorable redhead. Chloe second attempt at making the other girl laugh, wasn't as successful.

"Where were you with your thoughts anyway, admiring the view?"

She had meant the remark as a joke, but as soon as she said it, she saw Beca turn bright red. She didn't mean to embarrass the other girl, and immediately regretted her words. Beca seemed lost, murmured a response Chloe couldn't make out and then said that she needed to take a shower and took off before Chloe could apologize. Chloe was left standing disappointed at how the morning had turned out.

* * *

For the last day and a half Beca has been drowning herself in her music. She didn't know how she could face Chloe after the humiliation the day before. She had considered not showing up for practice, but she had a feeling the other girl would not let it go regardless. Besides, if she wanted to get out of here, she needed to get on that team. Tonight she had to show her drag flick to her coaches, and probably captains, and she needed to be at her best. She secretly hoped that the redhead would not show up, but doubted that this would be the case, since she was both co-captain and number one injector for the team. Beca's plan was to just ignore what had happened and pray that Chloe would do the same. She knew she was probably making a way to big of a deal out of all this, but the stress of the upcoming practice was getting the best of her.

After a while, mixing had helped her relax a bit, and she felt ready to take on the practice. She got dressed for training, and double-checked all her equipment. This was a habit she had picked up after having forgotten her mouth guard several times in the past. Since then, she checked of her mental list twice before every match and practice. Mouth guard, glove, stick, shin guards, okay, good to go.

As she arrived at the pitch Chloe was already waiting for her. Beca was not surprised, but she did feel her heart rate go up. As she walked to the sideline to drop her bags, she tried to not draw too much attention to herself, but her captain noticed her nonetheless. Chloe ran up to her and wanted to hug the brunette, but decided against it at the last moment. She had seen the embarrassment in Beca's eyes the day prior, and did not want to make her feel uneasy. She settled for an enthusiastic smile and a small wave.

"Are you ready?"

Beca nodded. She wasn't really ignoring the redhead, but had seen the hesitation and was confused. If Chloe was grossed out by her, why would she still be sporting such a big smile. Maybe she was just being nice because she felt the team needed Beca somehow. Or she knew she just had to endure Beca's presence one more practice, before she was able to get her off the team. Surely Aubrey wouldn't mind that.

Chloe interpreted the grim look of the freshman as nerves and tried to make her feel more at ease.

"Don't stress it, you'll be great. You're a great player and on top of that a drag flick specialist. The coaches would be thrilled to have you, I guarantee it. Even Aubrey was excited when I told her you could drag well."

Now Beca looked up and saw that her blonde captain was also present and currently heading their way. She was indeed looking happier than a few days ago, but was also showing a bit of distrust towards the freshman. Behind her the two coaches were approaching. When they reached the sideline Coach Smith started speaking.

"So Chloe here told me that you have a mean drag flick. We would like to see it in action. Chloe will inject, Aubrey will stop. If you want to, you can warm up for a minute."

They made their way to the goal in silence. Chloe was carrying a small bag of balls which she emptied at the backline. Aubrey took her place at the top of the D, crouching down. They would practice the injection a few times, while Beca warmed up with some short flicks at goal. When everybody was feeling confident enough, they set up for the penalty corner. Beca was standing a few steps behind Aubrey, and was focussed on the ball that Chloe was about to inject. A soon as the redhead started her movement, Beca took two big steps towards the ball, which caused her to line up with Aubrey just as the ball was stopped. Aubrey quickly removed her stick while Beca started her drag. She felt the ball moving in sync with her stick, just how she liked it. As she set up for the release, she felt the ball slip of her stick just a tad early, causing it to fling wide of the right post. It wasn't too far off, but Beca was not at all satisfied with her performance.

She turned around to see Aubrey already looking disappointed. The coaches didn't show much emotion, contrary to a certain redhead, who was urging everybody to set up again. She was also encouraging Beca, pointing out that the ball had been fast and certainly someone would have been able to tip it in from that position. This gave Beca a bit of confidence as she set up for a second penalty corner.

This time the injection was a bit sloppier, but Aubrey did well in handling the ball. Beca went through the same motions as before, but made sure to have enough stick behind the ball throughout the entire motion. She felt the ball being released from her stick and knew this was going to be a good one. She finished the motion, and just as she turned her head back towards goal, she saw the ball fly into the upper left corner.

Chloe was cheering like Beca had just scored the winning goal in a championship game. Both her coaches looked impressed, and Dawson gave her an encouraging nod. Even Aubrey looked happily surprised. Beca smiled, maybe this was going to be a good day after all.

Aubrey quickly recovered from her surprise and returned to her role of captain, demanding to see Beca repeat the feat. Beca did just that, shooting the balls at the different corners. She even managed a good low flick on Aubrey's demand. After a while Aubrey and both coaches seemed satisfied with her performance and returned to the dug-out, where a few girls had gathered. Beca and Chloe were left to pick up the balls. Chloe immediately walked up to the talented freshman and didn't hesitate this time, but pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"You just gave us a shot at the championship," she said with a huge grin. "I can just feel it, this is going to be our year!"

Beca smiled at her, glad that she was the reason the other girl was sporting the huge grin. She herself was not entirely confident that she could win them the championship, but she sure as hell was going to try. While they collected the balls, Chloe talked excitedly about how she thought this year was going to play out. Beca was listening, happier about the other girl's excitement than about their chances of winning the championship this year. Besides, she wasn't even officially part of the team yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you for the continued support, I'm really enjoying reading your reviews.**

* * *

The practice was similar to the last, Aubrey pushed the girls and everybody tried to show their best hockey in order to secure a spot on the team. Near the end of the training, Aubrey and Chloe left to take a quick shower before they would have their meeting with the coaches to decide the faith of the other girls. Once they returned to the field, Coach Smith ordered the other girls to clean up, shower and head to the meeting room in the sport centre. They would learn whether they made the team in an hour.

Beca only listened half, as she was distracted by the beautiful redhead in from of her, who was now wearing a white tank top with a black sports jacket and a pair of dark skinny jeans. She had collected her still wet her in a loose bun on her head. She turned to Beca, who looked away quickly, because she didn't want to get caught staring. She felt the gaze of the redhead, and decided to help Amy pick up the balls at the far end of the field.

The constant chatter of the Australian and the task of picking up balls helped to keep Beca's mind occupied enough for the next few minutes. By the time they were done, Chloe was long gone, and the field was cleared. Most of the other girls were already getting their bags at the dug-out or walking off the field. Beca and Amy now also made their way to the dug-out. As they arrived Beca heard a familiar voice call her name behind her. She turned around and saw a grinning blonde goalie.

"I made the team," he said as his face broke into a big smile. "When will you hear?"

"In about an hour," she responded. She tried to look indifferent, but felt the nerves inside her built.

"You wanna hit some balls at me? It might help to distract you a bit."

She nodded grateful, feeling this was exactly what she needed. They made their way to the goal. As Beca hit her balls, she felt the nerves dissipate. Jesse seemed to enjoy the challenge of stopping even the hardest balls, and he did a remarkably good job for his relatively short posture. After a while the men's team entered the field, which Beca took as her cue to leave. Jesse walked her to her bag and wished her good luck. She thanked him, partially for allowing her to forget about her nerves for a while and made her way to the showers.

* * *

She showered alone, since the other girls had already finished, and headed to the meeting room at the sports centre. She was relieved to find a free chair besides Amy, who was still chatting away. Most of the other girls were silent, as was Beca. She couldn't handle the nervous atmosphere, so she got out her headphones and started playing one of her mixes. This helped her relax a bit, but it didn't work as well as usual. Luckily the wait wasn't too long, since she had entered the room late. Amy tapped on her shoulder to indicate that she needed to remove her headphones.

As she looked up, she met bright blue eyes watching her. She pointed her gaze at her head coach who was explaining the procedure.

"We have picked the 16 girls that are going to form the team this year. We will announce our selection first. Then we will personally have a short conversation with all of the girls who didn't make it, the rest of you can wait here. We will then have our first team meeting of the year in which we will go over the rules for this team. Is that clear?"

Everybody nodded. Coach Smith took out a list and started calling off names. Beca was counting down in her head. Since Aubrey and Chloe were obvious picks, only 14 other girls could make the team. As she counted, she saw girls around her break out in smiles. She also got increasingly nervous. Four more to go, three, two…

"... and Beca Mitchell." Beca led out the breath she was holding. She finally averted her gaze from the coach and saw two sets of eyes looking at her. She tried to fake a confident smirk, but knew that she had already been caught by her two captains. Chloe smiled at her while Aubrey displays only a whiff of approval. She heard some sniffles around her and Chloe immediately walked to the source of the sound and hugged one of the girls that didn't make the team. Aubrey was obviously not at ease right now, and Beca understood now why Chloe was co-captain. She felt a pang of jealousy as the redhead was still embracing the girl in tears. She quickly reprimanded herself, she made the team and she should be happy. Besides, this meant spending more time with her favorite captain. Unfortunately this also meant spending more time with her least favorite captain, who was still standing in front of the meeting room with an uneasy expression on her face. Chloe now took the lead and directed the rejected girls towards the door.

As the girls left the room with the captains and coaches, Beca took her time to look around the room. She was glad to see a few familiar faces. She wasn't too big on making friends and hadn't talked to most of the girls during practice. She was happy to see Amy still sitting beside her. Opposite her Lilly and Stacie were also smiling. Cynthia Rose of course made the team, being the only goalie. She didn't know the other girls' names, but was sure she would learn them soon enough.

The wait didn't seem too long, because Amy was entertaining the girls with stories from her time playing in Tasmania. Beca started to really like the Australian. Just when the blonde girl was engrossed in some story about a mermaid dancing competition she had won, the door opened. A relieved-looking Aubrey lead the way to both of her coaches and her co-captain. The blonde took the floor.

"First of all, congratulations! However, the real work is just beginning. I went easy on you this week, but that will change as we start to prepare for the season. We will train three times a week. I expect a 110% out of all of you, both on and off the field. On the field, you run for every ball. Off the field, you make sure you sleep enough and eat healthy." At this point, she was looking at Amy, who was shrugging and muttering something about treating herself. "You will not be distracted by relationships. You are expected to be present on the field fifteen minutes before practice. You do not miss a practice. You definitely do not miss a game, so sundays are sacred. We have arranged several preparatory matches before the competition starts. These will take place the upcoming few weeks either on sundays or on practice days. We will approach them like we do normal matches. I will be your captain in the field, so my word is final there. Chloe will handle everything off the field, so if you have any problems you turn to her. We will win the championship this year, whatever it takes."

After Aubrey finished her speech everybody started getting up. Some girls talked about some party the men's team was throwing and made their way back to the field. As Beca wanted to leave the room, Aubrey called her back and asked her to wait outside for a bit. Then the captain turned to Amy and asked for a word. Beca walked out and sat on the bench. After a short while, Amy emerged, shot her a goofy grin and wished her good luck.

Beca shyly her opened the door, and walked in. Chloe saw her appear, waved her over and told her to sit down. The freshman was slightly intimidated, as she sat in front of her two captains and two coaches. Aubrey addressed her.

"We were very happy to see your penalty corner today, your drag flick is very good and we could definitely use it the competition. However, a lot of work still needs to be done, you need to train with different stoppers and injectors. We will also train on some variations the next few weeks. Being a penalty corner specialist for this team means a lot of extra responsibility. We need you to be at practice half an hour before everybody to train for the corner. You need to be resistant to pressure and you need to be able to score the decisive goal in the last minute of a match. Are you able to make that commitment?"

Beca was taken aback by the harsh tone of the blonde. She understood that her captain wanted to take the championship this year and that this caused of lot of stress. She also knew that part of that stress would be on her, if she was their penalty corner specialist. They couldn't afford spending time training her to have her cave under the pressure and walk away. But Beca had a lot riding on this as well, she needed to stay on this team in order to keep her end of the deal with her father.

"Yes, I can do that."

Aubrey looked at her sceptically, but Chloe smiled, and Beca decided to focus on that. Then Dawson addressed her.

"You have a lot of talent, kiddo. I will work with you over the next few weeks to refine your skill. We will meet every practice half an hour in advance. Sometimes we will practice with other girls, sometimes it will be just us. I will ask a lot of you, but I promise you will get a lot back as well."

Beca nodded. The tension in the room was tangible, since Aubrey still didn't seem to believe that she was committed to the team and was staring intently at her. Besides her, Dawson looked content, while Chloe was outright smiling. Beca couldn't read the look on the head coach's face, but at least it didn't resemble that of Aubrey's. Chloe decided to break the silence.

"Okay, let's go find the other girls. This ginger needs her jiggle juice!"

Beca shot her a thankful look and got up. As she turned around she felt Chloe link arms with her and lead her out.

* * *

Somewhere between arriving at the field and climbing the stands on the side, Beca had lost sight of Chloe. She was probably of congratulating some of the guys that made the men's team. Somehow, she knew most people her by name and field position. This left Beca alone in the stand, until her favorite goalie approached her.

"So you made team. You know what this means, right? You are one of those hockey girls, I am one of those hockey boys, and we're going to have beautiful hockey children. It's inevitable."

"Yeah, that is so not going to happen."

Jesse's face immediately fell and Beca felt sorry for her harsh tone and explained. "It has nothing to do with you, I really like hanging out with you as a friend, but I'm gay."

This seemed to help a bit, as Jesse started smiling again. "Well, then I need you to wingwoman me. I'm going to grab a drink, you want anything?"

Beca nodded in response and Jesse turned around. As he walked away an already slightly tipsy redhead took his place. She pulled Beca close and started talking in a whisper.

"I'm so glad you made the team. We will get to hang out like all the time. I think we're going to to be fast friends!"

Beca was extremely uncomfortable with the distance between them, so she was relieved when Chloe released her. Admittedly, she also felt a bit disappointed, because she liked the touch and smell of the redhead close to her. Chloe held her gaze for a while before they were interrupted by Jesse. He pressed a drink in Beca's hand, causing Beca to avert her gaze to him. Chloe looked from Beca to Jesse and then quickly excused herself. Beca wanted to stop her and tell Jesse to leave, but she was too late. Her face fell as her captain walked away.

"So, you like the redhead," Jesse remarked matter-of-factly.

Beca looked shocked. "It isn't that obvious, is it?"

Jesse nodded in return. Beca made a mental note to keep herself in check around her captain in the future. She knew she would be spending a lot of time with Chloe over the next year, but she definitely didn't need to get attached to anything here. She wanted to play hockey one year, and one year only, and then move to LA. Besides, Chloe obviously thought she liked Jesse. Ugh, this was going to be a long year.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you again for all the great support, you guys are awesome!**

* * *

No hockey practices were planned for the weekend, so Beca took the opportunity to work on some mixes. She also hung out with Jesse and went running with Chloe. The weekend flew passed, and she was ready to take on the next week of practices. They had now started practicing three times a week and Aubrey had planned a practice match on Sunday. The practices were just as brutal as before, even more so because Beca would start half an hour early each time.

She had noticed her improvement in execution of the penalty corners, even within the first week. She still had some things to improve on, as Aubrey would let her know each time she was present. Since Aubrey was also heavily involved in the penalty corner, she unfortunately joined Beca and Dawson almost every time. Chloe was there a lot too and she always managed to defuse Beca before she could go off on Aubrey.

Aubrey wanted every push to be on target and exactly by the book. Beca relied more on feeling, and didn't feel the need to analyze where she would aim the ball. She just released when it felt right, which worked pretty well for her up to now. Dawson was a midway between the two, she cheered Beca on when she had a successful corner, even if the execution was not perfect, but still wanted her to work on her technique. Beca was really thankful for Dawson being the one to train her. Coach Smith was more like Aubrey and it seemed he listened to her most of the time, instead of the other way around.

As Sunday approached, both Aubrey and Chloe became increasingly stressed. Beca had expected this from Aubrey, but was surprised by the effect of the upcoming game on Chloe. However, on their last practice of the week, Beca learned the true source of Chloe's stress. She was planning a get together for the girls after the game on Sunday. She introduced it as a team building activity. She had noticed that most girls didn't really know each other, and wanted everybody to get to know each other a bit better.

After she learned about the party, Beca had offered her help to Chloe. Her captain already had a list of tasks ready for Beca. Consequently she spent her entire Saturday helping Chloe making decorations and thinking up games for the girls to do. Beca felt like booze and food would be enough to keep them entertained, but Chloe really wanted to go big, because it was her first big task as a co-captain. Aubrey handled most of the other work while Chloe offered emotional support.

Although she complained to Chloe a lot, Beca didn't actually mind spending her free Saturday with the redhead. Making decorations gave them a lot of opportunity to talk. Beca even found herself sharing the problems with her father with Chloe, she just making talking so easy. Chloe talked about her own family and shared some childhood stories. Time flew past, and before they knew it, it was time to go home. They had to get up early the next morning to be in time for the game. Aubrey of course demanded them to be at the meeting room two hours before their match to discuss tactics.

"Thank you so much for helping, I wouldn't have gotten it done by myself!"

"Anytime." Beca really meant it, she really liked hanging out with the attractive redhead, not just for the obvious reason. Chloe was easy to talk to and had the gift to make you feel like you mattered. Even if Chloe didn't reciprocate Beca's true feelings, she still liked being friends.

"Well, goodnight," Beca said as she stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Oh, come on." Chloe pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you again! Sleep tight."

Beca shot her a smile and turned around. She didn't hear the door close immediately, but refrained from looking back as she walked away. She smiled as she thought about her day with Chloe. This had been a good day.

* * *

The next morning, Beca forced herself to get up and even managed to be at the meeting room in time. At least, she thought so, but she still walked in last. Aubrey shot her an angry look and she shrugged apologetically as she sat down next to Amy. As soon as she had entered Aubrey walked to the front of the room. She started to go over all the rules and tactics the team was expected to use. They had already practiced most of the set plays she explained and Beca was really pissed that she had gotten up early on a Sunday morning for this.

She was relieved when Coach Smith took over after what seemed an eternity. He talked a bit about the team they were up against, a team from a neighbouring college. They had apparently never lost to this opponent and he certainly didn't want to break that streak now. Finally he announced the starting positions. Aubrey would start in defense together with Amy, Ashley and Denise. Chloe and Beca would start as midfielders, together with Jessica. Stacy, Lilly and one of the sophomores, called Kate, would start as their forwards. Cynthia Rose was of course their goalie, and the other five girls would start on the bench.

Beca was pleased with her starting position and she had secretly expected it. She also felt confident playing with Amy behind her in defense, Chloe backing her up on midfield, and Stacy in front of her. These were the girls she had played with most the past week. She also had trained the penalty corner with Stacy on one occasion, so she had gotten to know the girl a bit better. Stacy turned out to have a lot more strategic insight than her exterior might make you assume.

The girls made their way to the field and they started warming up. Aubrey demanded them to all wear the same outfit, so they all ran in their blue Barden uniform, with their top covered by a training jacket in the same shade of blue. Beca already felt properly warmed up and started taking her jacket off when Aubrey yelled at her.

"Not yet Mitchell, we take our jacket off when everybody is warm. We want to look professional, it is the first step to be professional."

Beca rolled her eyes, but really didn't feel like pissing of her captain already, so she complied. They did the rest of the warming up in silence, and soon they were allowed to take off their jacket and start passing the ball. After passing in duos and playing for possession, the team divided in defenders, a combination of attackers and midfielders, and all players involved in the penalty corner. The defenders would be passing some long balls, the attackers and midfielders continued the play for possession and Beca gathered with Stacy, Aubrey, Chloe, Lilly and Jessica at the top of the D. Stacy and Jessica would both be stoppers during the game, Chloe and Lilly were the injectors, and of course Beca and Aubrey were expected to score.

After a while the umpires, two guys of the men's team, blew the whistle and Aubrey went to the middle of the field for the toss. The rest of the girls gathered the balls that were now spread across the field, and huddled at the top of the D. They waited for Aubrey, who ran back to them.

"We won the toss and chose the ball. They chose to keep that side. Okay girls, I expect you to play like this is the championship game. You don't hold back and you give everything. Remember the set plays we practiced. Coach each other in the field and act as a team. Hands in, Barden on three!"

They all jogged to their starting positions. On her way over, Beca made eye contact with Chloe, who gave her an encouraging nod. Beca returned a smile. As soon as Stacy played the ball it was on. Very quickly Barden had made some headway into the opponent's half and they were definitely more dominant in the game. However, the girls passed the ball around a lot, which caused them to lose it a few times. About five minutes into the game, Beca got the ball after a pass from Amy and saw the space. She made her way towards the circle, ignoring the shouts from Aubrey to pass the ball. She skipped a tackle and entered the circle. As she looked up to find either the pass or the goal, she felt a hit on her stick. Immediately the whistle blew for a penalty corner.

They gathered at the top of the circle. Aubrey shot Beca an angry glance as she jogged over. Beca didn't really understand what the blonde was angry about, and wanted to ask her. Before she could say anything, Aubrey was already talking. She reminded the girls of their respective roles in the penalty corner and ordered Chloe to inject the ball to Jessica, who was stopping in front of Aubrey. Beca and Stacy would set up a second castle as distraction, but they knew they wouldn't get any action.

What happened next surprised Beca. Their opponents saw the two castles, but still set up to defend for a direct hit. The keeper was even down before the ball had landed in Jessica's stick. They were obviously expecting the hit and didn't even consider that the ball could be played to Beca. Aubrey's hit was stopped easily, and they only got a long corner out of it.

The next thirty minutes was more of the same. They got some circle penetrations, even some more penalty corners, but Aubrey had hit each of them, and they were easily stopped. As the score remained 0-0, Aubrey became increasingly stressed and the entire team suffered. Beca started doing more solo actions, which just gotten her more angry looks from Aubrey.

Beca had been off the field for a while, but was allowed on again a few minutes before half time. They had just gotten a long corner on her side of the field, and she set up to take it. They had some set plays for these situations, but she saw that her teammates weren't set up yet, and she saw the space towards the circle. She made the split decision to just run the ball in herself. Because her team wasn't set up yet, nobody was able to take their positions in the circle in time. Beca decided to just hit the ball herself, but on the way to goal, it hit a defender's foot.

They gathered once more at the top of the D and Aubrey jogged to them from their position in defence. She was looking particularly angry this time.

"Beca, what the hell were you thinking, we have set plays for this."

Beca was indignant, she had won the penalty corner, hadn't she. Just as she was about to respond, she felt a hand on her arm. She looked up to see two blue eyes begging her to calm down. Before she could decide whether she could resist the look in Chloe's eyes, the redhead was already talking.

"Aubrey, let Beca take this one. They are expecting you to hit and they can defend it easily. They are not prepared for a drag flick."

Aubrey looked from Chloe to Beca and back to Chloe. She first looked like she wanted to reject the idea, but apparently some silent conversation was going on between Chloe and Aubrey. After a while she sighed and nodded. This time, Chloe organized everyone. Just before they went off to their positions, she gave Beca a light squeeze in her arm. Beca smiled at her in response before she redirected her focus to the task at hand.

Because she didn't have a big role in any of the previous penalty corners, she had already had the time to study the defence. She knew she would be good if she flicked the ball high over the goalie on either side. The injection came from Chloe. Their opponent clearly were expecting a hit again, and the first runner was heading straight for Aubrey. It took her a while to adjust her path. The goalie was also already down and both defenders on the line had a confused look in their eyes. Before any of them could adjust properly, Beca had already directed the ball high towards goal. None of the defenders had any change to stop it, and it hit the net hard.

She pumped her fist in the air in celebration. Immediately her team surrounded her and gave her hugs and pats on the back. Chloe was beaming with pride, which was the only thing Beca really registered. On her way back to her own half she received some more high fives and thumbs up from the defenders. Only Aubrey didn't join the celebrations, although she did look a bit less stressed.

* * *

The whistle blew for half time only seconds after their opponents had resumed play. As they made their way to the locker rooms, Beca received some more celebrations from the girls on the bench and her coaches. She sat down with a content smile on her face, which faltered as soon as she received another angry look from Aubrey.

Coach Smith started with some positive notes, but soon started to go into what they could have done better. Beca agreed with a lot of points and nodded along. After Coach had finished, Aubrey took the floor. She started her take on the first half.

"Girls, we need to be sharper. We have trained what we need to do in certain situations. If you do not keep to the set plays we trained, the other girls will not be able to anticipate what you are going to do." Now she was clearly looking at Beca. "We all know what to do in the case of a long corner, please just do as we agreed."

Beca couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had won the penalty corner and even scored from it. Aubrey was the one who screwed up the other penalty corners. She felt her body tense, but the tension immediately disappeared when she felt the hand on her knee. Chloe looked at her, now with a warning look. Aubrey saw it as well, and Beca could see the victory in her eyes. She really didn't want to let it slide, but she also didn't want to get on Chloe's bad side.

As she was deciding whether she should respond, the decision was made for her, because all the girls made their way to the field. Chloe stopped Beca from walking out immediately.

"Look, I know you have your own ideas on how we should play, and maybe you are right, but you can't just go for solo runs every time. We didn't see the run into the circle coming, so nobody was set up properly. If you had lost the ball, we would have been outnumbered. Please, just for this game, do as we practiced. I will try to talk to to Aubrey."

Beca felt her resolve disappear as she looked into those begging blue eyes. She could maybe keep quiet for one more half. She did hope that Chloe would be able to get through to Aubrey, because they were sure as hell not going to win the championship like this.

The second half was less than enjoyable for Beca. She didn't go for too many solo runs anymore and the game was mostly played on the midfield. They did win another penalty corner late in the second half. This one was scored by Aubrey, who hit it in the lower left corner. The defense had been forced to expect both the drag and the hit this time, so the goalie wasn't able to get down fast enough and she had to watch the ball pass under her.

Eventually they stepped off the field with a win. Aubrey was not too happy, of course, and immediately started talking to Coach Smith about possible improvements for the next game. Chloe walked next to Beca as they walked off. The other girls grabbed their bags and made their way to the showers, but Chloe stopped Beca from walking away.

"Thank you, I know Aubrey is getting on your nerves, and I know you are bursting to say something. So thank you."

Beca looked back at her captain and nodded. "I don't know how long I will be able to put up with her, so please just knock some sense into her."

Now Chloe nodded and replied. "I will try. Now let's celebrate our win. We didn't make all those decorations for nothing!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This one is a bit shorter, hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

After the game, Beca and Chloe made their way to the dressing rooms to shower. When they arrived the other girls were already in various stages of undress. Beca quickly skipped to a free spot and sat down. At her high school she was always the last off the field and consequently the last to shower. She preferred the peace and privacy. There were never enough showers for the entire team and she hated having to wait after she already got undressed.

She was a master at stalling. She started to pull off her shoes and socks very slowly and remove her shin guards. She then proceeded to organize her bags in order to fit the gear in it, and got out her shower equipment. She did all of this so slowly that by the time she was done, most of the girls were already back in the dressing rooms getting dressed. Beca quickly undressed, throwing her blue uniform into her bag. She put on her flip flops, grabbed her towel, shampoo and body wash and made her way towards the shower. She hung her towel outside of the shower block.

A few girls were still showering and Beca immediately saw a flash of red. She allowed herself a second to admire the toned body of her captain, before quickly averting her eyes toward the ground. She walked towards the showerhead farthest from the other girls. She pressed the button and water began to fall. She couldn't hold in a loud squeak as the freezing water hit her. She heard a bubbling laugh and felt her face redden.

"You picked out literally the only cold shower. Come, this one is warm."

Beca looked up just enough to see Chloe press the button next to her. She made her way over and relaxed a bit under the warm water. She felt Chloe's gaze on her, but didn't want to look the redhead in the eyes, or anywhere else for that matter. She quickly started rinsing. After she massaged the shampoo into her hair, she held her head under the water and closed her eyes. The warm water was doing a great job at relaxing her tired muscles, and she temporarily managed to forget her surroundings.

After a while she realized the girls were supposed to go to Dawson's apartment together and they were probably waiting for her. She opened her eyes to see that the showers were empty, except for a certain redhead next to her. Chloe was looking at her and Beca blushed. She made her way out of the showers and started dressing as quickly as possible.

Chloe had followed her out of the showers and was sporting an amused look. She was still shooting glances at Beca and eventually couldn't help herself.

"I never figured you for a shy person, Beca Mitchell."

When Beca didn't really respond, save an inaudible murmur, she took it a bit further.

"You know you have nothing to be shy about, right? I mean, you should be pretty confident about all that."

The colour of Beca's face was now almost matching Chloe's hair. She really didn't know how to respond, so she started throwing the last of her stuff in her bag and quickly made her way to the door. Before she could reach it though, Chloe was calling her name.

"Beca, you forgot your towel."

Beca turned around, almost jogged towards the towel, grabbed it and made her way out of the dressing rooms. The girls had gathered outside, and before she had reached them, she had a bit of time to compose herself. She knew she could count on Amy's stories to offer some distraction, and she was relieved that nobody made a comment about the fact that she was still holding her damp towel.

Chloe joined them soon after and shot Beca a worried look. Beca avoided all eye contact with her captain, so Chloe walked to Aubrey and they led to group towards Dawson's apartment.

* * *

After they had arrived, Beca managed to obtain a desperately needed beer. To her relieve, Chloe was off preparing for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Soon, she was listening to Amy talk about all the hockey parties she had attended in Tasmania. Stacy joined the conversation as well, having some interesting stories herself.

They were interrupted by Chloe after a while. "Everybody please make a big circle, we're going to play a game."

Beca knew what game was coming, since Chloe had run everything by her the day before. She sat in the circle between Amy and Lilly. After everybody had found a seat in the circle, Chloe walked to the center of the circle. She looked a little bit nervous, but put up a big smile as she addressed the team.

"So, this game is meant to get to know each other better. One person starts in the center." She pointed to herself. "This person thinks of a characteristic they have. This can be anything, so for example hair colour or the state you were born in. Then you say, 'I like people who...' followed by your characteristic. Everybody who identifies with that trait then has to get up and switch seat. The person in the center should also find a new seat. One person will not have a seat, and she has to make up a new trait. Is that clear?"

All the girls nodded, so Chloe proceeded. "Okay, so I will start. I like people who like hockey."

Chaos immediately ensued as all the girls got up and started trying to conquer a seat. Beca was able to quickly slid into the seat next to her, where Amy was seated before. Chloe sat down beside her, and now Amy had nowhere to go. She tried to bodyslam Stacy out of her seat, but was unsuccessful, so eventually ended up in the center.

The next few rounds, Beca experienced the luxury of being able to stay seated. This ended when Chloe was in the center for a second time. Her playful smirk reminded Beca that she shared quite some facts about herself with the redhead the previous day. Now her captain was probably going to abuse her prior knowledge.

"I like people who like music."

Beca wasn't surprised that most girls got up, but she hadn't expected Aubrey to walk over and take her seat. Chloe plopped down next to Aubrey and Beca had nowhere to go. She cursed under her breath as she looked around. She hadn't really prepared what she was going to say, so she had to make something up on the spot. She eventually settled for "I like people who have blue eyes", because she could see who would have to get up. She quickly took one of the empty seats and watched as Stacy couldn't find a seat.

The next line could have been expected from the tall brunette. "I like people who have had sex."

Collectively all the girls' cheeks reddened, except for Amy's and Stacy's, and most of them got up to change seats. Beca was able to discreetly slide into the empty seat next to her. She was mildly surprised to see Aubrey get up as well. After everybody settled down and Amy was in the center once more, Chloe called for a break.

The game went on for a couple of beers, and as the girls got more inebriated, the traits they revealed became more personal. Beca was feeling relaxed and she was genuinely having fun. This may have been partially due to the alcohol in her system, but she also really liked the girls on the team. She did however began to feel slightly uncomfortable with the direction the game had taken. She had already admitted to having kissed a girl before, but every round the game was becoming less innocent.

Chloe was standing in the centre at the moment and she was trying to think of something to say. The alcohol had removed all restraints she had, so she was staring bluntly at Beca. Suddenly Beca got an anxious feeling, like something was off. She couldn't identify it for a second, before she looked at Chloe and realized the girl had a challenging look on her face and was staring directly at her. Beca had probably revealed more about herself in the last few hours than she had during her entire time in high school. The beers had helped throughout the evening, but right now they only made her more anxious. Chloe was going to say something most likely applicable to her, and most likely something she didn't want to share yet. The events in the dressing room earlier only strengthened this feeling in Beca. She could always lie and stay seated, but this could be just as revealing as getting up in most cases.

She felt the blood drain from her face and quickly got up before Chloe had said anything. This resulted in a shocked look from Chloe. She ignored her captain and excused herself as she made her way to the bathroom. Here, she splashed some water in her face to try to sober herself up a bit.

Meanwhile, Chloe had called for another break, as she walked towards the bathroom. She suppressed the urge to immediately knock on the door and managed to wait for a minute before she did so.

"Beca, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit of a headache, I think I just need to sleep it off."

Beca dried off her face and opened the door. She didn't stop in the doorway, but hastily made her way past Chloe to the door. On her way over she grabbed her bag and jacket. Chloe was on her heels, but she tried desperately to ignore the girl. She stepped out of the apartment, but before she could walk away, she was stopped by a hand on her arm. She spun around to face the redhead.

"Please tell me what is wrong," Chloe almost begged.

"It's nothing, probably drank a bit too much. I'm fine."

Chloe had to muster up all the courage she had for the next question.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

The sadness in her eyes caused a pang of guilt in Beca, who was desperately trying to get away without hurting the other girl.

"No, I just really want to get to my dorm right now. We'll talk later."

At that, she turned around. She felt Chloe's gaze on her back until she rounded the corner. The guilt she was feeling now made way for anger. She was angry at herself for screwing up a potentially great friendship and a great year, because she couldn't man up and keep her feelings in check. She had hoped that this year of college would be different than her last year in high school. Now she wasn't so sure. She had possibly already fucked it up, two weeks in. This must be some kind of record.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Your reviews really make my day, thank you so much!**

* * *

The next week was slow. Beca worked on her music, worked out and hang out with Jesse, but still found herself alone in her dorm with nothing to do. This made her think too much about the way she treated Chloe.. She decided to keep her distance, hoping that the other girl would just forget about what happened, so they could go on as distant team mates. That would suffice for one year. However, Beca soon found out that Chloe was not one to let things go, as she had received multiple texts over the course of the week enquiring her well-being.

Beca had seen Chloe at practice, but had successfully avoided her for the better part. She did respond to the texts, but mostly with a simple "fine". The texts made her feel more guilty, which in turn made her feel angry at herself. This showed in the way she played.

They had some friendly matches planned on Friday and Sunday that week. In the Friday match, Beca started again at midfield, and had been bugged by her direct opponent the entire first half. The other girl was quick on the ball and managed to pass Beca on a few occasions, who got increasingly frustrated. Eventually Coach Smith pulled her off the field after she got a warning for a foul on the player. She let out a frustrated groan, threw down her stick and dropped down on the bench at the far end. Dawson looked worried and crouched down in front of her.

"What's going on?"

"She's been passing me all day. I can't get a grip on her."

"You know that is not what I'm talking about. Something has been off the entire week. I asked Chloe if something happened, but she wouldn't say anything. So please tell me."

Beca was happily surprised at Chloe's loyalty, she figured her captain had already spoken to Dawson. Still, now really wasn't a good time to talk about it. She just wanted to get back out there and win.

"I'm fine, just a bit frustrated."

Dawson looked at her with an incredulous look, which then turned stern.

"You better get it together before the next match. We do not tolerate this kind of aggressive behaviour on the field, even if you're frustrated."

The match ended with Beca still on the bench. She tried to make a quick exit but was stopped by Aubrey on the way to the showers.

"Aubrey, I'm really not up for a speech right now."

"Not my problem. What _is_ my problem, is that you seem to be looking for trouble. I put my trust in you and your penalty corner. It would be quite hard to score from one if you're sitting in the sin bin, isn't it? And don't even get me started on your lack of team spirit. You haven't exactly been friendly the past week. Consider this a warning. I know ten other girls who would happily take your place if I called them right now. Playing hockey is not just individual skills, it is also teamwork, sportsmanship and hard work. You really need to start showing me that."

Beca actually agreed with her blonde captain on this, and she knew she hadn't been on her best behaviour the past week. She was trying her best to get herself together, but once the demons in her head had taken over, she felt like she lost the control. She needed to stay on the team, though, so she just needed to try harder. She nodded at her captain.

"I know, I will try"

This satisfied her captain, who took off towards the dressing rooms. Now she heard new footsteps behind her and she turned around to see Jesse walk up to her.

"Good game, Mitchell. I will be sure never to cross you, though. You looked like you were about to rip that girl's head off."

Beca shrugged. "Thanks, I was just frustrated. I got carried away."

"Yeah, maybe not the best display of sportsmanship, but you're a badass. If you can channel that aggression into your game, you will definitely be this team's best chance on a championship."

"Thanks. I'm going to hit the showers, I'll see you later, okay? Thanks for coming!"

Jesse nodded, gave her a quick hug and took off. Beca walked in the direction of the sports centre, when she saw a flash of red at the entrance. Apparently keeping her distance had done the job, because Chloe didn't approach her, but started walking in the other direction. She now saw Aubrey run after her. Wondering about what she had just witnessed, she made her way to the showers.

The next day Beca couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Chloe. She hadn't seen or heard from her captain, which wasn't really surprising considering her recent behaviour, but she replayed the scene she had witnessed over in her head. She want to focus too long on the issue, since she had her own issues. She needed to do well the next game and keep her aggression in check. This would require all of her focus.

* * *

Their match on Sunday was an hour drive away. The captains had rented a small bus large enough to fit the team in. Their coaches would drive separately, so they had a bit of time to talk over their game plan. The ride was quiet, as it was still early. Beca had not really gotten a good look at Chloe this morning, since she had been late and immediately sat down next to Aubrey in the front after she entered the vehicle.

Warmups before the game went well, she tried to channel the angry feeling still lingering inside her into her game, which resulted in some nice drag flicks. This calmed her down a bit. Chloe seemed to be a different case altogether, her injections had been far from perfect and eventually Lilly had taken over.

The match was against a long-time rival they would also face in the regular match would really show them where they stood at the moment. It would also be a good opportunity to intimidate them with their newfound penalty corner specialist. Even though it was a friendly match, it felt as though a lot was riding on this game and Beca felt the tension.

As soon as the whistle blew, it was game on. Their opponents were clearly not holding back, so Barden responded with high pressure on the ball. This earned them an early penalty corner. Lilly's injection was perfect, followed by a good stop from Stacy and an explosive drag flick from Beca. The ball hit the net and the defense could only watch on helplessly.

After this first penalty corner, they seemed to have it out for Beca. During the course of the first half, some nasty fouls had been made against her, and she was starting to lose her cool. She had played more aggressive in response, which earned her another speech during half time. She tried to explain to Aubrey that it was not her fault this time, but of course the other girl wouldn't listen.

When Beca stepped back on the field after halftime, she could swear that the entire opposing team was glaring at her. She couldn't do anything but glare back, and decided to get back at them using her skill, not her aggression. This was really hard, though, when she needed to ride through multiple stick checks and concealed pushes. Eventually she did earn the second penalty corner and got ready at the top of the D.

They would do the exact same routine, seeing as it was extremely effective the first time around. Beca saw the first runner looking intently at her through her mask. She looked to Lilly instead, after she positioned herself behind Stacy. She gave a small nod and Lilly injected. Again the injection was very good, and Beca felt the ball fly of her stick.

Before she could look up to see if the ball had hit its intended target, she felt a body slam into her. Something hard hit her right above her eyebrow and she fell backwards. She hit her head hard on the turf and immediately everything went black. After what felt like mere seconds, but could have been minutes, she felt a hand on her cheek and a voice calling her name.

"Beca, are you okay? Beca, please respond. Talk to me."

She opened her eyes, but immediately closed them when the light came in. She wanted to say something, but the wind had been knocked out of her, and she could only take sharp breaths. She felt a hand take a hold of hers, and she squeezed it slightly. Slowly she became more aware of her environment. She felt the wet turf beneath her. She also heard a familiar voice shouting at someone. It took her a while to realize Aubrey was in fact not shouting at her, but at someone from the opponent's team. Then she heard a second voice, this one she recognized as Dawson's.

Beca, honey, I need you to open your eyes for a second, can you do that for me?"

Beca complied, but had to use all her strength to keep them open. She tried to focus on the blur of red she saw at her side. This helped a bit, and slowly her vision became sharper. She could now distinguish separate features in Chloe's face and saw the shock and worry sketched on it.

Chloe looked away from Beca when Dawson addressed her. "I think she has a concussion. It is best to have it checked out at the hospital. I also think her eyebrow needs some stitches. I need you to make sure she stays conscious, so keep talking to her and ask her to respond. Can you do that? "

Chloe nodded and looked back at Beca. Dawson now addressed the girl lying on the ground. "We're going to take you to the hospital in my car. I will carry you to the car. If you start feeling nauseous or feel like you are about to pass out, you need to tell me, okay?"

Beca gave her the smallest of nods.

"Good. Meanwhile, focus on Chloe, try to talk to her if you can. Everything will be fine."

With surprising strength for her slender frame, Dawson picked up Beca and started carrying her towards the car. Chloe was talking to Beca, and the brunette tried her best to focus and respond. She was unaware of the scene that had arisen on the field. Aubrey was fuming. She was screaming at the girl that had bodyslammed Beca. This resulted in the referees getting involved. They had claimed that it had not been intentional, but no one on the Barden team believed this. Currently they were refusing the play on, both for their own safety and because they wouldn't be able to focus anyway.

Dawson, Beca and Chloe made it to the car without too much trouble. Dawson put Beca in the back seat, and Chloe slid in from the other side. They told Beca to lie down, and she did so with her head in her captain's lap. The other girl caressed her hair as she kept talking to Beca. Beca didn't really register what was being said, but she did manage to nod at the right times. They were at the hospital in no time and Beca was immediately put on a bed and got a neck brace.

A number of photos and examinations later, Beca was cleared with a concussion and a few stitches in her eyebrow. She had gotten some strong painkillers, and was nodding off against Chloe's shoulder in the car ride back. The doctors had given the instruction that Beca was to be woken up every two hours. Dawson had offered that she could take on that task, but Chloe said she would stay with the girl for the night. Beca was so close to sleeping during this discussion, that she had been unable to voice an opinion.

They arrived at Beca's dorm very late. After Chloe woke her up, she was unaware of what was going on for a second, before she realized where they were. Chloe walked her to her dorm and urged Beca to sit on her bed. She then collected some sleep clothes for the girl. Beca wasn't in any state to dress or undress herself, so Chloe helped her. In no time, Beca had changed and was vast asleep in her bed.

Chloe found a towel and some of Beca's clothes that would be suitable to sleep in. She took a quick shower before setting a few alarms to help her wake up every two hours. Then she looked around to find a couch she could crash on. Of course, she had forgotten that Beca was a freshman, so the girl slept in a tiny dorm room with just two beds. The other bed was occupied at the moment and Chloe didn't have a choice. She slid into bed next to Beca and as soon as she did so, she felt an arm around her waist. She couldn't fight sleep for long and quickly dozed off.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks again for the continued support! Updates might slow down a bit, so I have a bit more time to write each chapter, but I will definitely keep them coming. Enjoy!**

* * *

Beca didn't recall much of the events after the game. She vaguely remembered being grumpy when she was woken up during the night. Now, as she was waking up, she was reminded of her injury by the intense headache. She opened her eyes and looked at her night stand to check the time. She saw the glass of water and painkillers ready for her, which brought back some memories of Chloe being in her dorm room.

She tried to sit up, but felt sore all over her body. Sitting up also intensified her headache. She let out a groan. Right at that time she saw her door move and a bright redhead entered the room. When she saw what Beca was trying she immediately skipped over to help.

"Whoa, calm down there, tiger. Here, let me help you."

She rearrange the pillows so Beca could sit comfortably and then proceeded to help her sit up. She handed her patient the pills and water, who took them eagerly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, you know, like someone bulldozed right over me. What happened yesterday? I don't really remember much after the penalty corner."

Chloe gave her the rundown of the event of the previous day. She had just a bit too much pleasure in telling Beca how increasingly grumpy she got every time she was woken up. During the story she sat down on the bed beside Beca and put her hand on Beca's. Surprisingly Beca didn't flinch or retract her hand, which Chloe took as a good sign.

"Look, I really don't want to push you right now, especially since you're in the state you are in, but what is going on with you? Did I do something wrong?"

The look of worry on Chloe's face nearly broke Beca's heart, and she decided that she had to tell her at least with half of the truth. She now lifted her hand to cover the other girl's and opened her mouth to respond, before she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She looked at Chloe, who looked irritated and walked to the door.

"Hi, are you looking for anybody?"

"Yes, I'm Dr. Mitchell, Beca's father, and I'm looking for my daughter. She wasn't at her class this morning, so I figured she would be here. And who might you be?"

Chloe's posture changed immediately when she realized who she was talking to. "Chloe Beale, sir, co-captain of the hockey team."

She stepped out of the way to let the man in. He walked straight to Beca's bed and raised his voice. "Funny, this doesn't look like your intro to philosophy class. Are you really going to skip classes on your first day of college? I can't believe…"

He was now close enough to see the stitches in his daughter's brow and her pale face. "What happened to you?"

Beca didn't look like she had much energy to explain the situation, so Chloe interjected. "Yesterday during the game Beca was tackled by one of the players on the opponent's team. We took her to the hospital to get her stitches and they also diagnosed a concussion."

The look on man's face now went from angry to worried. "Why didn't you call? You could have stayed with me and…"

"The stepmonster", Beca interrupted. "Yeah, I'd rather stay here."

"You could have at least let me know. I didn't even know you had a match. I am still your father you know?"

Beca shrugged, she wanted to say something about his absence during the last few years and him replacing her, but she honestly didn't have the energy anymore. Chloe luckily was able to read Beca perfectly and quickly jumped in.

"Sir, it is no problem, I will make sure she is well taken care of the next few days."

Will now looked at her and nodded hesitantly. "Very well, but Beca, please send me an update from time to time. I do really care about you."

Beca responded with a nod. Her father turned around and left the room. She let out a sigh and fell back into her pillows. She looked had Chloe, who looked startled by the interaction that had just taken place.

"Thank you, Chloe, for everything. I'm sorry you had to see that."

Chloe returned to her spot on the bed and looked at Beca questioningly. "Is that what has been going on with you, was it something with your father?"

"What? No, I really don't care enough about him for that."

Beca looked at Chloe and was shocked when she saw her eyes glisten with what seemed the start of tears.

"Then what is it, because I feel like I did something wrong. Do I make you uncomfortable? Do you not like me? I tried to keep my distance the last week, but that didn't seem to help either. I thought we were having so much fun last week and suddenly you just ran out on me."

Chloe cheeks were now streaked with tears. Beca placed a soothing hand on hers and tried to interject, but couldn't.

"I just feel like I failed as a captain, you know. I'm supposed to be there to listen to you, but you apparently feel like you can't trust me. What can I do to make you trust me, Beca? Because I have been racking my brain and really don't know what more to do."

Beca was now tearing up as well. She hadn't realized that she had caused this much distress in her captain.

"It's not your fault, I'm just really not big on sharing. I wasn't ready to tell you yet, I was scared. I'm so sorry I caused you so much stress, that was never my intention."

"So what's going on then?"

"I-I'm gay."

Chloe started laughing through her tears. Beca looked at her indignantly and awaited an explanation for the sudden outburst.

"Really, that's it? You're gay. Beca, half the team is gay, that really isn't a problem. I thought you were going to say you had killed somebody with a hockey stick, or something."

Beca couldn't believe what she just heard. "What do you mean, half the team is gay?"

"You really didn't know? Cynthia Rose is obviously dating Denise, although they're trying to hide it. I'm pretty sure Stacy has a thing for Aubrey, and I know for a fact Aubrey is not straight. One or two of the sophomores have dated each other, but that never worked out. So you are definitely not a first in this team."

Beca couldn't stop herself from asking the question that has been lingering in her mind. "What about you?"

Chloe laughed. "I like people."

Her face then turned more serious. "But why didn't you feel like you could tell me. I mean, did you think I would be homophobic?"

Beca still was hesitant to share her past with the redhead, but felt like she owed her at least half an explanation.

"Well, I figured out I was gay in high school. I wanted to tell my best friend at the time, who was also the captain of the hockey team. It took me a long time to muster up the courage to tell her. I eventually did and she was fine with it at first. This was during the summer holidays before senior year. During that time I didn't have much to do to keep me occupied, so I mostly hung out with her and played hockey. I taught myself to drag flick. When we came back my friend had become captain, but I turned into the penalty corner specialist. She couldn't handle this, so she wanted me off the team. She started to tell the other girls that I would look at them while we were showering. Eventually I was forced to shower separately and none of the girls wanted me on the team anymore. I wanted to leave too, but decided that she couldn't take that from me, so I sat out the year. Luckily the worst happened right before the season was over, so I only missed one game."

"The worst?"

Beca realized too late what she had slipped. The story she had told Chloe was true, but not complete. At the time this was really all she wanted to tell the other girl. She decided to pretend like she didn't hear the interruption.

"Unfortunately that last game was the championship game, which they lost. Soon after, I left for college, as did most of them, so I never saw them again. And I hope I never will."

At this Chloe hugged her. She felt the still wet cheeks bury in her neck and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Despite the throbbing pain in her head, Chloe managed to spread a warm glow over her body. She released way too soon for Beca's taste and was currently looking at the younger girl.

"It will be different here. We don't care who you like, we care if you are a team player and try to be your best for every practice and every match. We care about you. I know we haven't known you for that long, but everybody was genuinely worried about you. So if there is anything you want to talk about, you can come to me or anybody else on the team. And please do so."

Beca nodded and was happily pulled into another hug. "Thank you so much for everything, Chloe."

Even though she had just woken up, Beca already felt extremely tired. Chloe helped her lie down after she had released her from the hug and looked at her caringly.

"I have to get to class soon, but Stacy offered to check up on you and I will be back soon. If you need anything, please call me or any of the other girls. They all wanted to come see you."

* * *

Beca was awoken two hours later by the busty brunette. Stacy dutifully asked her the questions the doctor had given Chloe to make sure she was still okay. Then she got Beca a glass of water and sat down next to her.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Well, you know, like I was hit by a truck."

"Yeah, it looked like she hit you hard. It was crazy, the ball was already long gone, but she just ran straight on. She was really aiming to hit you."

"How did the game end? Chloe didn't really know, since she was with me, I guess."

"Well, you scored, so the referees couldn't exactly give us a penalty stroke or anything. But they also refused to give the other girl a red card, because they believed she had no intention of hurting you. That was bullshit of course. Aubrey actually received a yellow card for yelling at that girl, so she started yelling at the referee, which earned her a red card. I have never seen her this angry, it was hot."

Beca could distinguish a glister in Stacy's eyes, which reminded her of the remark Chloe had made earlier, and made a mental note to enquire her on it later.

"Then everybody in the team, including Coach Smith, refused to play on, so we just walked of the field. Luckily it was not an official match, so the cards will not stand, but nevertheless Aubrey was fuming. Coach Smith filed a complaint as well, but it is basically their word against ours, so that probably won't result in anything. We will have to get back at those bitches in the next match."

Beca nodded. She wasn't exactly forward to that particular encounter, but she was looking forward to beating them.

"So, when will you be able to play again?" Stacy enquired.

"I don't know actually, Chloe talked to the doctor, so I'll have to ask her when she gets back. But I definitely don't want to miss the first official match of the year.

Now Stacy nodded. "Chloe's been very worried. She kept everybody up-to-date during your visit to the hospital. She refused to go to class, until I offered to check up on you and Aubrey threatened to bench her if she didn't."

Beca had not been aware of how much Chloe had done for her, but it dawned on her now. She had probably not slept too much, since she had woken Beca dutifully every two hours. Besides, she had not left her side since yesterday's events, including the trip to the hospital and the night at Beca's dorm room. Beca would have to make sure to thank her properly for everything when she was feeling better.

"So, what exactly is going on between you and Chloe?"

Beca was taken by surprise. Stacy was staring intently at her, while Beca's face reddened. The smaller girl did not really know how to respond, so decided the best mode of action was to bounce the question right back.

"I could ask the same thing about you and Aubrey."

At this, Stacy's face turned the same color as Beca's and they were both silent for a while. Eventually Stacy spoke up.

"Okay, so I have a thing for Aubrey and you have a thing for Chloe, let's say we keep it at that for now."

Beca agreed. She was a bit anxious about the fact that she had apparently been this obvious. She really needed to get it together for the rest of the year. The deal with her father was for one year, then she would be gone, simple as that. So the next year she didn't need more attachments, especially not a girlfriend. Wait, what? Where did these thoughts about girlfriends come from?

"I have got to go. If you need anything, please call me, or better yet, call Chloe. She wil probably be back soon. Try to enjoy the next few days a little bit." Stacy winked, before walking out leaving a confused Beca behind.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you to everybody who has been reading this story! ri-fan had the suggestion of adding a few definition at the end of each chapter. I will include some here, and probably go back and add them at the appropriate chapters as well, thanks for the suggestion!**

* * *

The next week was both heaven and hell for Beca. Chloe was with her every day, no exceptions. She would only leave if Beca had fallen asleep or if she had to go to class. Beca gradually started to do more by herself, but Chloe wouldn't let her do anything physically labouring. Aubrey had helped her co-captain do some research on how to recover from a concussion properly, and Chloe took everything to heart. Beca was torn between being annoyed by the fact that she wasn't allowed to do much and enjoying Chloe being there and taking care of her.

The doctor had said that Beca was not allowed to play hockey for the next week, and that it was ill-advised the start playing within the week after that. This resulted in Chloe, as co-captain, refusing to let her play for two weeks, as they would need Beca more later on. Beca tried to convince her otherwise, but since both coaches and Aubrey agreed with the redhead, her resistance was futile.

Chloe did her best to cheer Beca up the Saturday before their first game, because Beca was still bummed that she was not allowed to play. Admittingly, she still had a bit of a headache and had not been able to train the entire week, but still. However, she couldn't stay truly mad at Chloe, when she had brought home-made chocolate brownies and had snuggled into her side after bribing Beca into watching a sappy romantic movie.

Both the men's and women's team would have a home game on Sunday, which meant that the girls had quite the crowd. Beca watched her team go through warmups. She was already feeling a lot better, maybe even ready to play. However, she had endured Chloe's speech, based on research by Aubrey, on the consequences of not recovering properly from a concussion. She was glad that the girls were looking out for her. Chloe had ensured Beca that the team was looking good in practice the last week and Beca had to agree after witnessing the warming up.

The men's team arrived a few minutes before the start of the game. Beca saw Jesse walk up to her. She had informed her friend on what happened, but hadn't allowed him to visit yet. She didn't feel like watching a movie with him, which he of course proposed, and was enjoying her time with Chloe too much.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Actually a lot better, but maybe that is partially due to the painkillers. Of course not so happy to be riding the bench."

Jesse smiled sympathetically. "Do you think the girls will win without you?"

"Yeah, they should be able to handle this. How about you guys, feeling confident?"

"Yes, if they score at least one and I hold my own in the goal, it's gonna be fine."

"Well, we'll see if you manage."

Jesse smiled confidently. He seemed to want to say something else, but the whistle blew to indicate that the teams would have to get ready. Beca hastily promised to talk to Jesse later, before turning her attention to the field.

The team didn't seem to need Beca at all this first game. They could easily counter every offensive move their opponents tried and found themselves in their attacking circle more often than not. Chloe was playing absolutely brilliantly in midfield, compensating for the absence of Beca completely. She won a few penalty corners, one of which Aubrey scored from, and made a beautiful field goal in the second half. Lilly and Stacy finished the game of with two more goals. Beca, both coaches, and even Aubrey were pleased with the end result.

After the game Chloe immediately ran to Beca and embraces her in a big hug. The captain had not found herself benched much during the game, so she hadn't had time to talk to Beca during. Beca soon pushed her off with a disgusted look on her face.

"Ew, first you shower, then you hug. "

"I thought you would want to congratulate me on my brilliant goal, but apparently not."

"Congratulations! Now go shower, I will see you after, you're staying for the men's game, right?"

* * *

After Chloe had nodded and skipped towards the showers, Beca turned around to watch the men enter the pitch. She didn't see Jesse amongst them and looked around. Soon she found him toying with some music installation, and only moments after loud music started blasting. This boosted the atmosphere tangibly and Beca couldn't help but nod to the tempo. The men had already started warming up, but clearly stepped it up a notch when the music kicked in.

Jesse now also made his way towards the pitch and started his own warming up. He shot a smile at Beca at the start, but soon focussed his attention on his drills. One of the guys shot some balls at him, and though he missed the first few, he was soon in the zone, diving around to catch even the hardest balls. His confidence earlier might not have been misplaced.

Right before the game would start, Beca teammates made it back to the pitch, all of them with wet hair and wearing the same blue jacket Beca was. Chloe made a beeline for Beca and encompassed her in a hug, before turning towards the field. As soon as the game started, Chloe gave a running commentary, informing Beca on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the players she knew. Jesse didn't have much to do, but made a good impression the times he was called into action.

During halftime, the guys turned on the music again. Chloe started moving elegantly to the music. Beca watched her for a while, and was really impressed with how well Chloe could dance. Chloe extend her arms towards Beca to encourage her to dance as well, but before she could convince the other girl, the teams were already back on the pitch and the music had stopped.

"Why don't we put on music before the game. The right music could work wonders for our warming up. Plus it creates a nice atmosphere for the spectators."

"I would like that as well,, but..." Chloe said as she gestured towards the direction where Aubrey was watching the game.

"Well, you are in charge of team spirit and stuff like that, right, so isn't this your call?"

"That is not how it works. We decide these kind of things together. She says music during training or before the game will mess with our focus. I guess she might be right."

Chloe didn't look too convinced of her own words. Beca threw her a questioning look but Chloe averted her gaze quickly. Beca kept quiet, because she knew what it was like to be forced to share. She didn't like the look on the redhead's face right now, though, so she felt like she needed to do something. She awkwardly rested a reassuring hand on her captain's back, which earned her a wide smile. After Beca had returned the smile, they both turned towards the game.

Jesse's team had just conceded a penalty corner and were now set up in the goal to defend it. Jesse was standing facing the injector, but as soon as he pushed the ball, he turned towards the top of the circle and stepped out of his goal. Two of his defenders ran out of the goal, one would defend the line, while one would stop the tip in from the injector. Their opponents chose a direct flick, which was heading for the the left upper corner. Jesse jumped and extended his stick hand towards the ball. He made contact and the ball shot just wide of the goal. Jesse quickly stood up and waved his stick in the air in celebration.

On the sideline Beca was cheering, to everybody's surprise. She normally wasn't an outgoing person, but for these kind of plays she made an exception. She loved the game and could really get caught up in it. She soon realized that she was behaving rather out of character and quickly composed herself. During the time cheering and afterwards she had received some questioning looks from the girls, especially Amy, who was standing next to Beca on the opposite side of Chloe.

"So, what's going on between you and the delicious goalie over there?"

Amy had a loud voice, so soon all of the girls were tuning into their conversation.

"Nothing, he's my friend."

"You didn't cheer this loudly when Cynthia Rose made a save in our game."

"This was an incredible save." Beca didn't really feel like elaborating, but realized that she had to give Amy something. The other girl seemed set on getting an answer, preferably one she liked.

"Look, he is like a little brother to me, we hang out at times. I really was just cheering because it was an incredible save."

She was still subject to suspicious looks, now not only from Amy, but also from a few of the other girls. Even Aubrey was looking in her direction. Beca started to get tense. She knew what she had to do to get out of this situation. Her thoughts flashed back to last year, when she was in a similar situation. Chloe had ensured her that things would be different here and she wanted to believe that, but her emotions had the upper hand in her mind right now.

She now felt a reassuring hand on her arm, and she turned to look Chloe in the eyes. Chloe's eyes were speaking the words she wanted to say out loud. They were asking Beca to trust her and trust the team. Beca felt the tension escape from her body and went back to the moment with Chloe earlier this week. She felt like she could trust Chloe, but she was familiar with that feeling and things didn't turn out so great the last time.

The other girls could see a silent conversation going on between Chloe and Beca. They were trying to assess whether they should say something. Amy turned out to be the least patient of the bunch.

"For god's sake, out with it. Beca, we're your friends, you can trust us."

One last confirming nod from Chloe did the trick and Beca turned to Amy.

"I'm gay."

Her voice was small, but it was still audible by all of the girls. Most of them shot Beca a smile or a reassuring nod, indicating that they absolutely no problem with it, and focussed their attention on the game. Amy pumped her fist in the air and turned towards Cynthia Rose who had appeared next to her holding ten dollars.

"That's awesome, I so called it."

"What the hell, did you bet on whether I was gay?"

"No, we all agreed you were gay, we were betting on when you would tell us."

Cynthia Rose shot a glare at Amy. "You cheated, you practically kicked her out of the closet."

"What can I say, it's a gift," Amy responded. She put the cash in her bra and turned her attention to the game.

Now that all the girls had their attention elsewhere, Chloe pulled Beca into a hug and whispered in her ear.

"I'm so proud of you. Now we have something else to celebrate tonight."

"I didn't think I would be allowed to stay out late or drink alcohol of any kind."

"Who said anything about that, I was thinking that we leave early and settle for a sappy movie."

"You know I don't like movies."

"I know, but I know you like watching movies with me."

* * *

 **A/N: So for anybody who is not familiar with field hockey, I will try to include the basics here, plus some terms I used in this story.**

 **Field hockey is played in teams of eleven, ten field players and a goalie. The field is divided into four parts by the two 25-yard (23 meter) lines and the midline.**

 **Circle (the 'D'): Area on the field in front of the goal shaped like a half circle. The attacking team can only score if the ball has been touched within this area by an attacker before it goes into the goal. If a defender makes a foul within this area, they concede a penalty corner.**

 **Penalty corner: This is a set play. Five defenders (four field players and a goalie) are lined up in the goal, while several attackers are on the edge of the circle. One injector plays the ball from the backline towards another player around the circle. The ball has to be stopped outside of the circle, before it can be brought in and shot at goal. A shot has to be low, while a drag flick can be high.**

 **Drag flick: Special type of shot where the players drags the ball in their stick before releasing it. This type of shot is allowed to be lifted in a penalty corner, which makes it very useful.**

 **Long corner: When the ball is touched last by a defender before it crosses the backline, the attackers are allowed to take a long corner, which is currently taken from the side line, but this will be changed to the 25-yard line.**

 **Penalty stroke: When a attacker is heavily fouled within the circle, they receive a penalty stroke. The attacker takes a shot from the penalty spot about 6,5 meters in front of the goal.**

 **If anything else is unclear, please let me know!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This is not a really exiting chapter, but more exciting stuff is coming soon. Thanks again to everybody who has been reading along with this story. I'm glad that the explanation at the end of the last chapter clarified the game of hockey a bit.**

* * *

After the game the girls hung around a bit. They waited for the guys to step off the field and make their way to the showers. Afterwards, the entire group would have a party to celebrate both wins. Beca wasn't exactly informed on the details, but apparently Amy had planned something with a guy called Bumper, the captain of the men's team. She would just have to follow the rest of the group.

She was not really feeling as good as she did in the morning, due to the long day and all of the excitement. She would have to go by her dorm to pick up some painkillers before being able to handle the party. She was glad that Chloe had suggested to leave early for a quiet night in, that was exactly what she needed.

Chloe had been eyeballing her for a while now. She was looking a bit worried as she lightly pulled Beca towards her. Beca took a step away from the group and faced her. She was looking over Beca's face and put her hand against the freshman's forehead.

"Are you feeling alright, you seem a bit pale."

"It's fine, after some painkillers and maybe sitting for a bit I will be good to go."

Chloe shook her head. "No, you're not, you should lie down. Wait here for a second."

Beca tried to protest but Chloe was already off to inform Aubrey that she would take the girl home. Aubrey looked in her direction while Chloe was talking at a hushed tone, and then nodded and shot Chloe a look Beca couldn't quite make out. Chloe then walked back to Beca, grabbed her bag and took the other girl's arm.

"I'm bringing you to your dorm and staying with you to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, you should go enjoy the party."

"I'm not leaving you alone, so you might as well stop resisting and save yourself the energy."

Chloe said a quick goodbye to the girls before she dragged Beca to her dorm. Beca was actually relieved that she did not have to attend the party, but was also a bit bummed, because the entire team was going to be there. They had something to celebrate and Beca wanted to celebrate with them. She was also feeling guilty for taking that from Chloe, but her captain couldn't be convinced to go to the party without Beca. She insisted taking care of Beca for the night.

After Beca had taken her medicine and settled in the bed with Chloe snuggling in her side and a sappy movie playing on her computer, she wrote a quick text to Jesse. She had seriously neglected him the past week and he was probably wondering why she wasn't at the party. Soon she received a reply.

 _Thanks for watching the game, feel better soon. We should hang out when you feel better and are done flirting with your redhead nurse._

Beca's face turned red after she had read the last comment. Chloe looked at her quizzically, but Beca quickly locked her phone and turned her attention to the movie. She wasn't really sure what they were watching, but Chloe had ensured her that she would like it. It apparently was a romantic comedy about two girls falling for each other, from what Beca could gather.

* * *

Beca had to admit that the movie was rather cute in the end. She had not really been paying attention, but enough to make out some sort of plot. When the movie ended it was still early, but she felt rather sleepy. Chloe took one look at her and immediately read this of her face.

"You should go to sleep."

"I'm fine, besides it's still way too early."

"You don't look fine. And you have to go to class early in the morning, so you need to get enough sleep."

"I don't think I'm fit enough to go to class yet," Beca complained. She had spoken with her counselor last week, who had agreed that she should rest for the week, but they had agreed that Beca would start classes next week. Of course, Chloe had gone with her, so she knew about the arrangement. Normally, Beca would skip the class, concussion or not, just because of the early hour. However, Chloe had been on her case about getting a good education.

"You will be, if you sleep well. I will stay until you fall asleep. I will also check on you tomorrow morning, so don't you dare even think about skipping it!"

Beca knew resisting would be futile and started to get ready for bed. She was used to Chloe being there as she fell asleep by now, since this had been their routine the last week. The redhead usually snuggled up with her until her breathing evened out. The first few nights, Beca had been slightly uneasy with the whole situation, and had tried to convince Chloe that is was not necessary. Her captain insisted this was part of taking care of her freshman recruit however, so she wouldn't take no for an answer.

This night was no different, as soon as Beca had settled, Chloe snug in beside her. Relaxing into the embrace, Beca closed her eyes. Chloe started talking in a whispered voice.

"You know, Beca, I'm really proud of you. I know you had a bad experience with coming out and all that, so what you did today was very brave. You don't need to worry about them letting you down, I swear these girls will be there for you throughout your college career. "

Beca felt a pang of guilt, knowing her college career would end in less than a year. She hadn't felt that informing her captains or coaches during tryouts would have be smart, because then she would most likely not have been selected. Now that she knew the girls, she felt Aubrey would probably freak and still want to kick her off the team. Chloe would just be incredibly disappointed, Beca could already imagine her face. She had decided it would be best to not say anything and just not show up for tryouts next year.

She tried to push the guilt away and get some sleep. She was feeling exhausted and would need to be well-rested if there was any change of focussing on her lecture tomorrow. Slowly she dozed off.

* * *

Her lecture the next morning was as boring as she had imagined, as were all the other classes Chloe forced her to attend over the next week. Hockey practice wasn't much more exciting, since she was not allowed to actually play any hockey. She could do some easy running and a few drills, but was not allowed to participate in anything that required a lot of physical exertion or would include contact with other players. Her captains and coaches had thus agreed that Beca would be allowed to participate in the warming up, but would sit out all of the other drills.

Because of this, Beca was not in the best mood, even though Chloe did try to cheer her up the entire week. She didn't want to make Chloe feel bad about not being able to cheer her up, so she decided to hang out with Jesse more. He teased her endlessly about her crush on her caretaker of the past week, but quickly stopped when he was on the receiving end of one of Beca's glares. Beca was glad that he could sympathise with her mood and didn't try to cheer her up, but helped to keep her distracted.

Game day came around, and again Chloe had ensured Beca that they would be able to handle the other team. Beca was relieved to see that Chloe was right, though the game started out quite close. Eventually Barden turned out to be the fitter team and dominated the game the last ten minutes, even scoring twice in that time.

The guys didn't play at Barden this time, so the girls gathered for some drinks after the game, but soon spread out. Some girls wanted to continue the celebration of their victory, while others wanted to get some studying in. Beca wanted to work a bit on her music, since hadn't been able to the past two weeks. She also needed some alone time. She certainly didn't complain about all the attention she had gotten from Chloe the past few weeks, but she was not used to so much social interaction, so she was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Surely as soon as she started to leave, she was stopped by the redhead, who proposed to hang out. She knew that blowing her off would always leave her disappointed however it was delivered, so Beca decided to choose the direct route.

"I would love to, but I really want to work on something, so I will have to take a rain check. Sorry."

Immediately Chloe's face fell. Beca felt guilty for blowing off the girl who had been taking care of her so well, but really needed her time alone.

"Is this something studying, because I could help with that. It took that philosophy class you're taking as well," Chloe said hopeful.

Beca shook her head. "No, it's something personal. Maybe you could hang out with Aubrey?"

"No, she wants to study and doesn't like people in the same room when she does so. But what kind of personal thing are we talking about here?"

Beca had told Chloe before that she liked music, but she never told her that she makes music. Chloe hadn't noticed the equipment in her room or if she had, she didn't mention it. Surely, as soon as she would reveal that she made music, the other girl would want to listen to it, and she didn't think she had anytime good enough to show Chloe. Part of her did want to, but now was definitely not the right time. There was also the risk that Beca would slip up and accidentally tell Chloe her L.A. plans. However, Chloe was looking at her with sad, pleading eyes, which Beca couldn't resist, so she decided to put her out of her misery.

"I like making music, and I had some new ideas over the past weeks, but I haven't had time to work on them yet."

Chloe's face lighted up. "Is that where all that equipment in your room if for? That's really cool, can I listen to something you made?"

As soon as Beca shook her head, the disappointed look returned to Chloe's face.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm not exactly ready to show them yet. Maybe I will in time."

Chloe nodded understandingly. "Okay, well, have fun. I will see you tomorrow!"

Beca returned a nod and walked back to her dorm. She was a bit tense about the previous exchange. She had expected Chloe to want to hang out with her, but she didn't know the other girl could be quite this persistent. She wondered why her captain had wanted to hang out with her so badly instead of going out with some of the other girls on the team. Fortunately, her worries quickly disappeared when she booted up her laptop and started working on the ideas in her head.


	11. Chapter 11

The weeks seemed to go by faster when Beca was allowed to play again. Between hockey, mixing, hanging out with Jesse and Chloe and studying, she didn't have much free time. She didn't mind though, because it kept her mind off things. She liked to be occupied and all of her activities certainly did the trick. She had found out that Jesse was working at the on-campus radio station and had hung out there a few times. The DJ, Luke, eventually offered her an internship, since she was there anyway and he could use a second intern. Beca accepted the job, because she hoped she would get some DJing experience before leaving for L.A. However, for now she had only been allowed to stack CDs with Jesse.

Chloe still kept a close eye on Beca the first few practices, but Beca wouldn't sit out any of the exercises. She felt like she had something to compensate for the two weeks she was benched. She was soon back to her old won all of their matches easily, but the team knew they would encounter the tougher opponents later in the season. All the wins did keep the moral high and each and every girl worked their butt off to make sure they were fit enough to take the championship home.

The Friday before their first tough game, all the girls were on the field, except for Chloe and Aubrey. This was surprising, since Aubrey would always arrive at least fifteen minutes early with Chloe in tow. With a minute to spare, Chloe entered the field. She walked to her coaches immediately, apologizing profusely. As soon as she reached the two adults, she started talking at a hushed tone.

After they both nodded, Chloe turned around and walked towards the group. She stood next to Beca and started addressing the girls. Amy was still engaging many girls in some story about her dingo wrestling days, so they didn't pay any attention to Chloe. She was looking quite stressed and helpless, so Beca decided to lend a hand. She brought her finger to her mouth and produced a loud whistling sound. Chloe jumped at the sound, but her face quickly turned from shocked to grateful, since all the girls were now looking at Beca and Chloe.

"Okay, listen up girls. As you may notice, Aubrey is not here today. She has caught some kind of bug and is in no state to play any hockey today. I will be running warming up today. I hope she will be able to join us again next Sunday."

Most of the girls already had all the drills Aubrey usually made them do memorized, so this posed no problem for the team. Soon the coaches took over and they went through practice as usual. Aubrey's absence was noticeable in the overall atmosphere on the field, all the girls seemed a bit more relaxed. They didn't work any less, but they did allow themselves to be a bit more creative, which led to some nice plays.

After ninety minutes of exercises and drills, the girls were divided into two teams. Beca was delighted to be in Chloe's team for once. Since they played with seven players in the field, they had agreed to play with two attackers, two midfielder and three defenders. Beca's team started with Cynthia Rose as their keeper while the other team got an extra field player. The second half the roles would be reversed.

The first ten minutes weren't played on the level they were used to. A lot of passes missed their target, and the players weren't defending very well on both sides. Beca did score after a great solo run. At the intermission Coach Smith was far from positive. Both teams were having the same problem, they weren't coaching each other properly. The backs had to coach the midfielders, who in turn had to coach the offenders.

The second half started a bit like the first, but when Lilly, who was playing in front of Beca, made a defensive error, Beca decided that someone had to step up. At the next free out against them, she coached both Lilly and the other offender to the right spot and corrected Chloe's positionn. This did the trick, now the opposing team had nowhere to play the ball and Beca's team quickly recovered it. From then on, they were dominating the game. The other girls on Beca's team started coaching each other a bit more as well, and eventually they won the game by four goals. The only player that was not playing her best was Chloe, who seemed very stressed and frankly just unfocused.

As soon as the field was cleared of all their equipment, the girls made their way to the showers. Chloe stayed behind to talk to the coaches and didn't even notice Beca waving goodbye. Beca had a late shift at the radio station tonight, so she would not be joining the girls for drinks. She quickly made her way to her dorm, showered there, and then ran to the station.

* * *

After a long and boring shift at the station, Beca felt like she deserved to sleep in on Saturday. Since she had worked the day before, she was free today and didn't have much planned except for a bit of mixing and studying. Jesse had to work at the station today, so he wouldn't be available to hang out and she hadn't heard anything from Chloe, who was probably busy taking care of Aubrey.

After sleeping for a considerable amount of time and eating a wholesome breakfast Beca decided to get the reading for her philosophy class out of the way. She was still not a fan of actually studying, but Chloe regularly checked how she was doing, so she did enough to pass. This seemed to also please her father, who left her alone for now. He had been to one game, but had not engaged with her after, so it was fine with Beca.

Just as she finished her reading, she heard a knock on her door. Kimmy Jin had left before Beca woke up, so it probably wasn't for her. When she opened the door, a familiar redhead greeted her with a hug, which lasted considerably shorter than usual. Chloe was clearly very stressed and barely managed to keep eye contact with Beca.

"Do you have time to come with me?"

Beca nodded, confused by the cryptic request. She managed to grab her coat and keys before Chloe dragged her in the direction of the room Beca's two captains shared.

"Is everything alright?"

"Uhm, yeah, Aubrey wants to ask you something."

This was even more cryptic. Beca had no idea what Aubrey would want from her, but she was extremely curious. Especially since Chloe was acting really strange. She usually was a lot more direct, as was Aubrey.

They soon arrived at Chloe's room. The redhead opened the door and allowed Beca to step in. Chloe's room was much larger than Beca's, it was rather a small apartment than a dorm room. The place consisted of two separate bedrooms, a small kitchen and a small living room. The couch in the living room was currently occupied by Aubrey, who was covered in blankets. Beca could only see the back of her head, but as soon as Chloe closed the door, Aubrey turned around to look who had entered the room.

"Good, you're here, please sit down," she said in a raspy voice.

Beca installed herself on an empty chair facing the couch. Chloe lifted Aubrey feet and sat on the couch, allowing Aubrey to rest her feet on her co-captains lap. Then Aubrey addressed Beca.

"Let me cut right to the chase. As you might have noticed I am in no state to play tomorrow. I would never cancel a game, but Dawson visited me today and forbid me to play like this. That means someone has to be the captain the next game. Would you take that place? Chloe said you did really well in training and Dawson and Coach Smith both agreed you would be the best choice."

Beca couldn't really believe what she had been asked. For a split second, she thought Aubrey was joking, but after looking at the serious look on her face, she knew this was not the case. Still, this was the girl who had wanted to kick her out of the team, not have her run it. Plus she didn't have any experience in being a captain.

"Isn't that what having two captains is for?"

Now Chloe looked nervously at Beca. The brunette immediately regretted the tone of her remark when she saw the expression on the other girl's face.

"I am not really good at being a captain on the field, as you may have noticed yesterday. I don't have the natural authority you both have. I like making people happy, I don't like shouting at people."

Beca nodded understandably, but still didn't feel like she wouldn't be the best pick for the position.

"But isn't Amy way more suitable for the job, she's excellent at shouting and can keep a good overview from her position in the field."

Her captains had obviously thought about all the other options, because Aubrey immediately responded.

"Amy is really a focussed person. Besides, she is good at defensive plays, but knows next to nothing about offense."

Beca proposed some other names, but for each, her captains could pose an argument against the girl. Soon Beca was out of options and was staring blankly at her captains. Aubrey had been starting to lose her cool during the conversation.

"We're giving you a great opportunity and responsibility, you should be happy to get this chance, not try to sabotage it," she snapped at the freshman.

Before Beca could respond, Chloe was at her side and guiding her towards the door. She shot a warning look at Aubrey on their way out. They walked silently around campus for a while. Finally Chloe asked Beca to sit down at a nearby bench.

"Sorry about all that. Aubrey is not used to not immediately getting what she wants. We did really consider every option and decided you would be the best pick. You would make a great captain. I know you don't see it, but everyone else in the team does. And you just need to be yourself in the field, I will take care of everything else."

Chloe's pleading eyes were too much for Beca, so while still wondering what she was getting herself into, she was already nodding. This caused a shriek in her captain, who was hugging her extremely tightly.

"You're going to do so great," she exclaimed. Then her face turned apologetic. "Aubrey did demand a briefing with you before the game, so she could make sure everything would be alright. She is not really good at letting things get out of her control."

Beca grimaced and in return received a warning look.

"Okay, I guess I could handle that."

This resulted in a second hug, before Chloe led her back to her room.

The following hour or so was filled with Aubrey telling her exactly what to do. The blonde had even prepared a few lists that included what points to mention during their huddle at the start of the game and during half time. Chloe kept shooting her encouraging smiles, which helped Beca get through the whole thing without ripping her hair out. When Aubrey was finally done she seemed exhausted, so Chloe helped her to bed before returning to Beca.

"Thank you so much for all of this, I know it isn't really your thing, so I really appreciate it. I will think of some way to thank you!"

"Well, I never properly thanked you for taking care of me when I had that concussion, so let's just call it even."

Beca could read from Chloe's face that she was already planning something nevertheless, but she knew better by now than trying to convince the redhead. When she had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Great to read that both field hockey players and field hockey muggles (I love that term!) are enjoying the story. Thank you for all the support, you're amazing!**

* * *

Beca spend the rest over her Saturday with Chloe. They first talked over the upcoming match, but soon the conversation diverged and they spend hours talking about all kinds of random stuff. Around dinner time Chloe made soup for Aubrey and ordered pizza for Beca and herself. Beca really enjoyed herself and was reluctant to leave, but Chloe insisted she should get enough sleep, especially considering her newfound responsibility the next day. Chloe walked her out and made sure to thank Beca a dozen more times before encompassing her in a big hug.

When Beca was with Chloe everything seemed simple and clear, except for the physical attraction she had for the redhead. However, as soon as she stepped outside her worries returned. What had she agreed to? She couldn't possibly be a good captain. She knew it was too late to cancel, because anyone who was going to do the job would require a briefing by Aubrey, but she really wanted to back down. Either way she would probably be disappointing the team. That damned redhead.

Beca had trouble falling asleep, which was only worsened by the worries she had about getting too little sleep. Eventually she fell asleep, only to be tormented by dreams about screwing up the next day. She woke up on several separate occasions, and at six in the morning decided it would be best to just get up. She never got up this early and was still feeling quite tired. The two cups of strong coffee she drank didn't help much.

She prepared her stuff for the game, double checked everything twice and walked to the was an away game, which meant that Aubrey and Chloe had arranged for transport. The girls would travel together, while their coaches would again take their own was half an hour early, so nobody was present yet. She put her bags down and sat down on a nearby bench.

Beca didn't have to wait long for her first teammate to arrive. Chloe was looking a lot fresher than Beca was and skipped towards her.

"You're early! Wow, you look like hell, didn't you sleep well?"

"Thanks, always a charmer, aren't you? I had some trouble sleeping."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, you're still beautiful. Is badass Beca Mitchell nervous?"

Beca averted her eyes. She didn't want to admit her nerves. She had created the aura around herself that she didn't care about anything, and though Chloe had probably seen through that long ago, she had a reputation to uphold. She also didn't want to make Chloe nervous, so she recomposed herself and looked at Chloe.

"No, I'm fine, the team is looking great, so there is nothing to be nervous about."

Chloe nodded, indicating that she agreed, but Beca also noted a hint of nerves in her captain. Before Beca could think of anything soothing to say, a few of the other girls arrived. They all greeted each other and soon everybody was chatting away. When all the girls had gathered, Chloe leaned into Beca.

"Could you maybe do that whistling thing again?"

Beca managed to produce a loud whistling sound and soon Chloe had everybody's attention. She informed the girls of Aubrey's condition and their solution to the problem. Nobody protested against Beca taking on the role of captain, so soon everyone was piling into the bus. A few girls gave Beca an encouraging nod or pat on the back. She got in last and was walking towards her usual seat in the back when she was stopped by a hand gripping her arm.

Chloe pulled her down into the seat next to her. Simultaneously she pulled the brunette towards her, so Beca could rest her head on the other girl's shoulder.

"You should get some sleep now. It's a long drive, you will feel refreshed when we get there."

Beca happily obliged and soon dozed off. She actually got in some quality sleep, because by the time Chloe softly woke her up, she did feel refreshed and a bit calmer. She blinked a few times and sat up, looking at the girl next to her.

"You were right, I do feel better. Sorry I'm not the best travel buddy."

"No problem, you're cute when you sleep."

Beca blushed and turned to Amy, who was driving, to distract herself from the flutters in her stomach that were the result of the remark.

"How long is it until we get there?"

"Hey, good morning. We'll be there in about five minutes."

Beca nodded and sat back in her seat. She felt Chloe's eyes on her, but didn't want to look her in the eyes, fearing she would give her feelings away. Chloe seemed to interpret her behaviour as nerves for the game and laid a soothing hand on her leg. At initial contact Beca tensed, but she managed to relax a bit due to Chloe's soothing movements.

* * *

They arrived with plenty of time to spare. Their coaches had already arrived and were waiting for them in the parking lot. All the girls quickly got off the bus, which was quite a task with their enormous stick bags, and gathered around the coaches. They found the dressing rooms and everybody entered. Before Beca could entered she was stopped by Dawson.

"You don't have to be nervous, you're going to do fine, believe me. Just be yourself, do things your own way."

Beca nodded and proceeded to enter the changing rooms. She had gone over the pre-match procedure with Aubrey the previous day, so she knew what she had to do and say. She got dressed and allowed the girls a bit of time before she started her speech. Most of it had been prepared by Aubrey, so Beca just went through the points the blonde had told her to. Afterwards Chloe asked the coaches to come in, who both had some points of their own. Then everybody made their way to the pitch.

Their opponents were already running drills and Beca's team soon followed suit, lead by Chloe and Beca. They had agreed to lead the warming up together, which turned out to work very well. All the girls were completely focussed and ready to go when the match was about to start. Beca had wanted Chloe to do the toss and wear the armband on the field, but the redhead had refused, so Beca made her way to the center of the field.

She won the toss and chose to take the ball. She shook hands with the two umpires and her opposing captain and made her way to the top of the circle. The other girls were already huddled together and were waiting for Beca to speak to them one last time before the match. Beca had received instruction on what to say here as well, but chose to ignore them this time.

"Nerds, I want to see the best you've got, make Aubrey proud. Don't be afraid to walk the ball in yourself if you see fit, but try to keep an eye on your teammates at all times. Be creative, score a few goals, win some penalty corners and above all, have fun!"

Amy led the yell with a booming voice and the huddle broke. Chloe made her way to Aubrey's usual defensive position while Beca lined up at center midfield. They had agreed to change up the positions a bit to compensate for the absence of Aubrey. Stacy was standing next to the ball ready to start the game.. The whistle blew and the game got underway.

It was obvious that the girls were not used to playing a tougher opponent and they needed to defend a lot in the first ten minutes. Chloe was fortunately playing incredible in her defensive position, so their opponents didn't manage to break into the circle just yet. They did put the pressure on, so Beca feared it would only be a matter of time. She realized she hadn't been too vocal this game and decided she needed to start leading her team.

On their next free out, she instructed the midfielders to get moving. Their game had been way too static and they needed to get away from their defenders more. Jessica made a nice run to the inside, which allowed Chloe to pass the ball to her. The midfielder walked it a good few meters before passing it to Lilly, who was playing on the flank. She made a run towards the backline before directing her run along the line into the circle. Unfortunately she was stopped at the edge of the circle by a good defensive tackle and touched the ball with her foot.

Their opponents set up to take the free hit, but they didn't hurry, so Beca had enough time to position her team perfectly. The opponents had nowhere to go and soon the ball was back in their possession.

Although Barden did not manage to convert in the circle just yet, they did dominate the midfield and their opponents had no idea how to handle the pressure they were receiving. With a minute or so to play in the first half they had nowhere to go with their free hit. Probably out of frustration, one of the girls of the opposing team decided to scoop the ball. They only had one offender near the Barden circle, who was Chloe's direct opponent.

Chloe was just a step in front of the girl and had positioned herself to bring the ball down. Her opponents wisely waited behind her, knowing she was not allowed to step in. Chloe followed the ball and positioned her stick just below her shoulders. Just when the ball was about to hit her stick, her intuition took over and she moved her stick forward slightly. This caused her to miss the ball, which bounced through towards the offender behind her.

Before Chloe could respond and turn around the girl had already made her way into the circle with only Cynthia Rose ahead of her. Even though the goalie did an excellent job at closing in on the girl, she managed to get a shot away, which grazed Cynthia Rose's left leg guard. The goalie was too late to respond and the ball shot past her and hit the backboard. Before the girls could retrieve the ball to restart the game, the whistle blew for half time.

Cynthia Rose hit her stick against her leg guards angrily as she made her way of the field. Chloe felt defeated, this was a ball she could receive with her eyes closed, how had she missed it? She had seen Beca walk of hastily before, so the girl was probably angry at her. When she noticed everybody had already made their way off the field, she reluctantly followed her team mates to the locker rooms.

* * *

Aubrey had of course also prepared the halftime speech, but Beca decided they would need a custom one for this occasion. She had consulted with both her coaches and considering the situation, both had agreed to switch up their game plan, though Coach Smith didn't seem at ease with the idea. They had been dominating this game, but hadn't been converting. They were all still playing according to the set plays they had been practicing, which normally worked fine, but weren't cutting it today. As soon as all the girls had entered the room, Beca took the floor.

"Girls, first of all, you've been playing amazingly. I know we're behind, but that is due to a stroke of bad luck. They weren't playing well, they were just lucky, we have been dominating. We just have not been converting. Our defensive play is fine, but we need to be more creative in offense. Lilly, try to cut to middle instead of choosing the backline every time. Stacy, use those moves we have all seen Friday and just drive them crazy. Midfielders, just try running the ball into the circle. Individually we are better if we're not being predictable. So be creative and go get them! We have still got thirty-five minutes to make Aubrey proud, let's do this!"

The girls cheered and even the coaches smiled. Coach Smith took over and went over some specific defensive plays they could improve. Beca took a seat next to Chloe, who had not looked up from her feet the entire time. Her entire posture was betraying her current lack of confidence. Beca was feeling a rush as a result from her speech, which caused her to lay her hand on the other girls lap, just like Chloe had done in the bus. She still didn't look up, but did seem to relax just a bit.

Coach Smith didn't have very much to say, so soon the girls were making their way back to the field. Since they had some spare time, Beca stayed behind and stopped Chloe from walking out as well. She put both her hands on the other girl's cheeks and pulled her face up to look at her.

"You know it isn't your fault, right? You have been playing amazingly and just had some bad luck. This shouldn't get you down. You need to get back out there and redeem yourself. Show them how it's done."

"Maybe I should take some time on the bench," Chloe responded with a small voice.

"Dude, no! You're going to go out there wearing that trademark Chloe Beale smile and play your heart out."

This caused a small smile in Chloe, who was still looking at Beca hesitantly.

"I think the other girls are not to happy with that goal."

"Of course they're not, but nobody is blaming you. It happens, and now we're going to crush them!"

Finally Chloe's face broke into a full-fledged smile and she shot forward to give Beca a big hug.

"I'm so glad you agreed to be our captain today. You're doing extremely well, it's very sexy."

"W-what," Beca exclaimed, not sure if Chloe had actually said what she thought she heard, but Chloe just smiled and walk out of the room.

* * *

 **A/N: The rest of the match will come soon. In the meantime some more terms I used in this chapter.**

 **Toss: This is similar to a lot of other sports, a toss is executed before a game. The winner can decide whether they want to take the ball or chose the side of the field they will be playing on.**

 **Scoop: This is a special kind of shot, where the ball is played high, usually used to get it out of the backfield. When receiving a scoop, the player first to the spot where the ball is about to land should be given the space to receive the ball. If both players arrive at the same time, the defender is allowed to receive it. Usually, offenders hang back, hoping the defender misses the ball.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: This one's a bit shorter, but I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again for making my day with all the amazing support!**

* * *

The girls were back on the field and were ready to start the second half. Their opponents were still in deliberation, but as soon as the umpires blew their whistles indicating that it was time to start again, they quickly took their positions as well. They started the game and Beca immediately directed her players to the right positions. Barden soon won the ball and Lilly made another run along the backline. She was stopped before making a real break, like she was the entire first half, and looked extremely frustrated.

"Lilly, remember what I said during halftime," Beca shouted during their next free hit. Lilly nodded in response and ran away from her defender to be able to receive the ball. She again ran towards the backline, but before she completely reached it, she cut back inside. Her defender was already positioned in the backfield and couldn't react quickly enough. She did try to block Lilly with her stick, but hit the girl's foot instead of the ball, causing the Barden girl to fall down face first.

Beca was relieved to see that Lilly was able to get up immediately. She was even happier when she saw that the umpire was pointing with two hands towards the goal, indicating a penalty corner for her team. She joined the huddle at the top of the circle, and realized she had to say something as their captain. She looked around, saw Chloe, and an idea popped into her head.

"Chloe, after the injection, I will play a low push to your forehand and you are going to tip it in from the near post, like we did in practice. Stacy, you are going to stop for me. Lilly, Jessica, you set up a decoy castle. Let's do this!"

The girls all nodded, although Beca could see the hesitation in Chloe's face. They had practiced this variation a few times, but not too often. Beca had confidence it would work, knowing Chloe's skills. And if she would score, it would help her to regain some confidence.

Beca lined up with Stacy in front of her and Lilly to her right. After the umpire had lowered his hand to indicate they could play, she nodded at Chloe, who injected the ball flawlessly. Right after her injection, she made her way to the goal, stopping exactly at the right spot for Beca to pass the ball. She put down her stick, angled it perfectly, and the ball shot off her stick into the goal.

All the Barden girls immediately joined in the celebration of their deserved goal. Several girls were hugging Beca, but she made her way towards Chloe and threw her free hand around the other girl's shoulders.

"I knew you could do it, you're amazing!"

Chloe was beaming as she ran back to her spot in defense. From then on out Barden was dominating the game. Stacy drove her opponents crazy with her amazing stick skills and Lilly managed to break through several times by making quick turns. The midfielders were finding the offenders every time and everybody was coaching each other. The goals didn't come too easily, though, because their opponents had a beast of a goalie. Stacy did manage to get one past her halfway through the second half, but the game was only decided by a third Barden goal right before the final whistle.

They girls shook hands with their opponents and were all wearing a big smile. They hadn't just won, but they had also played an amazing game. The teammates hugged and high-fived like they had just won a championship game. Both coaches were pumping their fist in the air and congratulating the girls with the game.

In the locker room and on the ride home the team was still ecstatic. Chloe had called Aubrey and all the girls joined in on the conversation. When they got back, Beca received a lot of compliments and pats on the back from the girls. They had wanted to celebrate, but after the long day, most of the girls were actually too tired. They might gather for a small get-together later in the evening after everybody had taken their afternoon nap.

* * *

It wasn't too long before Beca was just left with Chloe. The redhead was looking at her with a weird look Beca couldn't make out. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but didn't receive an explanation in response. Chloe just linked her arm with the brunette and dragged her along. They walked to Chloe's apartment. Beca could use some relaxation after all the excitement of the day, but was also intrigued by Chloe's weird behaviour, so she didn't protest.

When they arrived Chloe first checked on Aubrey. When she came back she reported that the blonde was fast asleep, before approaching Beca. She hesitated for a moment, before closing the distance between them and connecting her lips with the confused brunette. Beca didn't really process what was happening and had forgotten to respond before Chloe pulled back. Her brain wasn't working properly, so she didn't really know what to say and therefor uttered probably the worst thing she could say at this moment.

"What are you doing?"

Choe looked shocked. "I thought this was what you wanted. Oh, god, I'm so sorry, I read the whole situation all wrong. I'm so sorry, Beca."

Beca had now started to process the situation and immediately felt guilt for her response. She hadn't meant to sound angry. And now Chloe looked to be on the verge of tears. Well done, Mitchell. Get it together!

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I did want that, I just thought you didn't. I mean, you're gorgeous and sweet and perfect and I'm just an awkward freshman."

Chloe face went from night to day and she immediately responded.

"Are you kidding me, you're beautiful, extremely talented and passionate. I know you're trying to pretend like you don't care about anything, but you're not fooling me. Plus, you're extremely sexy when you take charge in the field."

Beca was dumbfounded. She had decided in her head long ago that her crush on Chloe would stay just that. She hadn't expected Chloe to be into her at all. And why would she, the redhead was a gorgeous senior, not to mention her captain. Sure, they had fun together as friends, but she hadn't counted on it possible evolving into something more that a relationship.

"You're kind of freaking me out, Beca. Did I do something wrong? Can you please talk to me?"

Beca snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Chloe. The redhead was looking at her worried. She was fumbling, obviously wanting to place her hands on Beca, but holding back. Beca realized they were both still standing at an awkward distance from each other. She decided that she needed to do something to show Chloe that she had done nothing wrong, but words weren't her strong point. Actually, neither were feelings, she was not even near her comfort zone right now.

She decided the best she could do right now was to pull Chloe in for a hug. This seemed to have the desired effect, because Chloe melted into her arms. They stayed like this for a while, before Beca pulled Chloe towards the couch. They sat down and Chloe looked at her expectantly. Beca took her time to gather her thoughts and decide what to say.

"Okay, so, I'm not really good with words, so please bear with me. I'm sorry about the way I reacted, you definitely caught me by surprise. Just to get this clear, I do like you, a lot. I just never thought someone like you would ever go for someone like me, I mean, look at you."

Before she could continue, Chloe had interrupted her.

"I am looking at you, and I see a beautiful, perfect, amazing, tiny woman."

Beca tried to glare at her before breaking into a smile. "Right, so what do we do now? Because I'm really not good with these kind of things."

This earned her a look of adoration from the senior, who looked like she was trying to decide what to say in response. Apparently she hadn't gotten to this point when thinking of what she was about to do.

"I want to take you out on a date," she stated, watching Beca with a questioning look.

Beca looked at her pondering over her options. Her whole body was screaming yes, but her head was still a mess of emotions. Of course this is what she wanted, but it shouldn't be. They both would go their separate ways after this year at Barden. Getting into something now seemed just plain stupid. But here was this insane girl with her incredibly cute pout and her big blue eyes staring at her, asking her for a date. How was she supposed to say no to this happy, optimistic, beautiful creature.

So she said yes, and received another kiss in response. This time she reminded herself to respond properly and brought a hand up to the other girl's cheek, amazed at how soft it was. She enjoyed Chloe's hands moving along her back and brought her other hand up to her neck. The entire experience was amazing. They both got lost in it for a while, before Chloe pulled back.

"Let's save it for the date, Mitchell," she said with a wink, before getting up and offering Beca something to drink. Beca was still thinking back to the amazing moment they just shared when Chloe returned to the couch. The redhead gave Beca her drink and put her hand on the brunette's leg. They sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.

Beca couldn't suppress a yawn, after being exhausted by the long and emotional day. This led to Chloe telling her she should get some sleep. Beca argued she could sleep against Chloe on the couch and she could see that the redhead actually liked that idea, but her captain managed to reason that Beca should get proper sleep, because she had to be looking fresh for their date the next day. Beca eventually agreed and got up.

They lingered at the door for a while, both reluctant to say goodbye. Chloe initiated their goodnight kiss and Beca happily returned it. Chloe told her she would pick her up after her afternoon lecture the next day for their first day. Beca nodded and pecked the redhead on the cheek one more time before making her way back to her dorm, happily replaying the events of the afternoon in her head.

* * *

 **A/N: I wanted to give a short explanation of some of the umpire's signs I described in this chapter.**

 **When the umpire extends both arms towards the goal, it indicates a penalty corner. While everybody is setting up, the umpire will raise one hand, indicating that the injector is not allowed to play the ball yet. When they drop their hand, the attacking team is allowed to start the penalty corner.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: This chapter contains mostly first date fluff, hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Beca has been anxious the entire morning. Chloe had made her promise to go to her intro to philosophy class in the morning. Her captain also had a morning class and would pick her up afterwards. Since they had practice in the evening, but didn't want to postpone the date, they agreed a date could take place in the afternoon just as well. Chloe had taken the planning upon herself, leaving Beca completely in the dark. The freshman was not big on surprises and could only hope that her captain would not go overboard. This resulted for the freshman in not being able to pay any attention to the class she was forced to go to, or anything else for that matter.

She was sitting in her dorm trying to work on a mix, but was too distracted to actually get some work done. She was blasting the music and just randomly clicking some buttons when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and quickly turned around. Now she was facing the most beautiful redhead she had ever seen. Her date was wearing a tight white shirt with a vest accentuating her curves and a pair of skinny jeans. They had agreed not to wear anything too fancy, but Beca probably preferred this look on the redhead.

Chloe was looking amused at the attention she was receiving. In turn, she eyed the tiny girl in front of her, who was still wearing a lot of black, but was looking gorgeous as ever. She nodded approvingly, before turning her attention to the screen behind Beca.

"What were you working on?"

"Nothing really, just passing the time," Beca said with a shrug, before closing her laptop.

Chloe looked at her questioningly, but didn't press on. She had probably pushed Beca enough the last few days. She waited for Beca to get her jacket and a small bag, before taking her hand and walking out of the dorm. She checked if the other girl was hungry, which was the case, and proceeded to their first destination. Beca tried to make her tell where they were going on a few occasions, but never got an answer, just a knowing look.

Beca almost walked past the little diner, when she felt Chloe pulling her to the side. They entered a small establishment and were met by the smell of baked goods. On one side a variety of pastries was displayed behind a window, while the other side was filled with booths. Some were already taken, but Chloe lead her to an empty one near the back. They both sat down and Beca took her time to take in the surroundings.

Though she was surprised when they walked in, it now dawned on Beca that this was exactly the kind of place she could expect Chloe to take her. It seemed sweet and undiscovered. Chloe was beaming and looked immensely proud of her choice of venue.

"So, do you like pancakes?" Chloe asked her, looking just a bit worried. When Beca nodded, she seemed even happier than before, and proceeded to flag down one of the waiters. She asked Beca for her drink order, and then ordered food for the both of them, which seem to be some sort of pancake platter, from what Beca could gather. When the waiter left, Chloe turned back to her, still smiling. Beca initiated the conversation.

"So, how do you know about this place?"

"I sometimes need to get away from Aubrey, so I wandered around town one time and ended up here," she said somewhat embarrassed. "Aubrey hates it when I eat junk food, she is pretty big on the whole health thing. I need my sugar at times, so I go here. They have amazing pastries and even better pancakes. It's my guilty pleasure."

Beca smiled at Chloe, because she was being too cute right now. This grown woman was sitting in front of her excited like a little girl over pancakes. She did feel for Chloe, having to deal with Aubrey all the time. How could she deny this cute redhead her pancakes? Sure, they had to stay fit, but pancakes once in while had to be allowed.

"What about you, any guilty pleasures?"

Beca shook her head, and was met with an incredulous look. "How can you not have any guilty pleasures, come on, everybody has them. You must at least have a guilty pleasure song?"

"Even if I did, I would not tell you right now, I would first have to get to know you a bit better."

"Beca Mitchell, ever the mysterious woman."

Beca smirked at this, she was glad her reserved nature had not scared the other girl away. She didn't get this reaction most of the time, usually people would avoid her. Something was different with this incredibly perky girl, that seemed determined to get to know her, however fast or slow Beca was allowing that.

"So, what can you tell me about yourself?" Chloe asked.

Beca thought about it for a while. She had shared some things about herself over the past weeks they had been hanging out. Mostly these were just trivial facts about herself, like where she was from. Chloe had asked her about her parents one time, but she had successfully avoided the question that time, just like the questions about her future plans and her high school years. She had managed to keep their conversations light and casual, talking about hockey, Barden and the weather.

The setting was different now, they were on a date, and on a date you were supposed to share things about yourself. They were here to get to know each other a bit better. Beca didn't want to disappoint Chloe, and had the feeling that if she would shut out her captain for long enough, even she would be scared away.

"What do you want to know? I can't promise I'll tell you everything, as you may have noticed sharing is not really my thing, but I'll try."

This was already a small victory for Chloe, so she decided to not push the other girl too much and keep things light. She had learned by now that she had to avoid certain subjects if she wanted Beca to actually talk to her. Both the past and the future seemed off limits, so she settled for the present.

"What do you think about college?"

Beca hadn't really expecting that question. She thought Chloe would want to know about all the things she had avoided telling her, but instead she was surprised with one of the rare questions she did not mind answering. She thought about is for a short while, because she hadn't really considered it before. She had been too busy with all her activities and planning her future after college to actually ponder her college experience.

"It's fine, I guess. Not really a fan of philosophy, though. But most of the courses I'm taking are fine. It's all better than I expected, between hockey and working at the radio station, I might actually be enjoying myself. But don't tell my father!"

Chloe smiled fondly, both happy about the fact that Beca was sharing something and that she was having fun at Barden. For her, because she was so good at making friends, going to college was a great experience and she had been enjoying every minute of it, but she also knew this wasn't the case for everybody. Beca did seem to feel more at ease around the team than she did at the start of the year, but reading her was hard, so Chloe didn't know if she actually liked it.

"What is it that you do at the radio station?" she asked.

Beca explained that her current activities mainly consisted of stacking CDs, but that she had the ambition to end up in the booth before the end of the year. She avoided the subject of her L.A. plans for now, as she felt that was not exactly first date material. They talked about music for a while and Beca discovered Chloe knew a lot more about music than she had expected.

Soon their lunch arrived, a two-person platter of pancakes, and Chloe immediately digged in. It was endearing to see how much she was enjoying this guilty pleasure of her, and Beca took a minute to look at her before digging in as well. Chloe made sure that Beca enjoyed herself during their lunch, checking if she liked the food and the place multiple times. Beca was surprised that anyone could be this considerate.

* * *

When they finished lunch they still had a couple of hours left before they both had to get back to their respective dorms to get ready for practice. After Chloe had paid, Beca failed miserably at trying to convince her otherwise, the redhead linked arms with her date and lead her to the next destination.

She had wanted to take the girl to the park and play on the swings or fly a kite. She had shot down the idea herself, since that much cheeziness might be the end of Beca. Besides, at this time of the day there were probably too many children. She didn't have much to work on, but knew that the other girl enjoyed sports, which gave her a good idea.

They made their way just past the local park, to the batting cages. Chloe hadn't prepared Beca for this, so she had packed two sets of sports clothes. Beca wasn't too happy with the idea at first, especially since she hadn't played baseball in such a long time. She felt slightly uncomfortable in the sports clothes Chloe had brought, not because they were not the right size, but because they were very Chloe. The shirt was bright pink, the shorts some kind of neon colour.

After a few hits, Beca started to enjoy herself a bit more. She quickly got the hang of it, and secretly it was quite pleasing to hit something once in a while. She got the same satisfaction out of hockey, but that also involved playing more calculated balls at times, while here she could just hit with all her might.

They switched places, so now Beca was watching Chloe work her magic. She could admire the beautifully toned body, the beautiful long legs and the gorgeous red hair. This girl was just so gorgeous, Beca had no idea how she could be this lucky to be going out with her. Chloe turned around and smiled at her after a particularly good hit, which gave Beca's the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

They switched positions a few more times before their time was up. After changing, they headed towards campus together. Chloe walked Beca back to her building. Beca suggested that Chloe could stay and eat some dinner with her, but Chloe declined with a sad look. She had some kind of meeting with Aubrey and the blonde insisted on cooking, so Chloe would eat something healthy today.

"So, what are we going to tell the team?" Beca asked. She didn't want to hide whatever they were, but figured it might be better if Fat Amy did not find out for now.

"Maybe it would be better to just keep this between us for now and see how it goes," Chloe suggested, and Beca agreed. This settled it, so now all that was left was to say goodbye. Beca now made the first move, since she felt like Chloe had done everything up till now and didn't want to give the girl the idea that she was in this alone, and stepped closer. She brought her hands up to the redhead's face and pulled her in for a kiss. It started innocent enough, but soon she was pressed against her date and felt Chloe's fingers run through her hair. She pulled back and heard a disapproving sigh from Chloe, but continued her movement nevertheless.

"I'll see you in a bit. Have fun with Aubrey"

Chloe pulled a face and turned around, but not before giving Beca another quick peck on her lips, leaving Beca behind with a broad smile on her face.


	15. Chapter 15

Beca had a hard time keeping her eyes off Chloe the next practice. She knew a few girls would immediately confront her if she would stare at Chloe too much, so she did her best to focus on her game instead of her teammate. Aubrey was not playing today, since she was still feeling under the weather, but she was present and shouting orders from the sideline. She would definitely notice as soon as Beca and Chloe looked less than focused and Beca would like to avoid this.

She felt like she made it through practice well enough, she hadn't received too many disapproving looks from her blonde captain, and nobody seemed to notice any change in her behaviour. After practice she saw that Chloe was talking to Aubrey, and decided waiting for her was not a good idea. She would text her when she would get back to her dorm.

Several texts later, they agreed on a second date the next day. Beca would be planning this one. She also received a text from Jesse, asking her how everything was going. They hadn't seen each other in a few days, so he wasn't up to date on everything that had happened. Beca tried to explain in as few words as possible what had happened the past few days. She decided that she could trust Jesse with the information about her and Chloe, he was a good friend. He immediately called her after she send the text informing him about her and Chloe dating.

"This kind of news is not text-worthy, Mitchell. Can I come over?"

"Sure, you know where it is," Beca replied.

He arrived moments later with a huge grin. He hugged her, which she still hated, but learned to tolerate, and sat down on Beca's bed.

"Congrats Beca, I'm really glad for you. Tell me how this all happened."

Beca gave him the longer version of the last few days. He eagerly nodded along, until she got to the part of arranging a second date. He immediately perked up, and looked like a puppy getting a treat.

"What are you planning?"

"Frankly, I didn't have too much time to think about it yet. I was just thinking dinner, maybe go see a band that's in town. I mean, it isn't that hard to plan a date, right?"

Jesse looked disapproving and shook his head.

"Beca, we're talking about Chloe Beale here. You need something special, something unique. Dinner is nice, but is she really the dinner kind of girl?"

Beca thought about it for a while and decided that Jesse was right. Chloe would probably like dinner, but she wouldn't love it. She needed to come up with something better. Immediately her nerves kicked in and she started to play with her hair, aiming a nervous glance at Jesse.

"What am I suppose to do? I have to plan this whole thing before tomorrow!"

Jesse now looked like he received the greatest gift anyone could ever give him. Of course he was extremely excited about planning a date, even if it was for someone else. He immediately started spewing ideas, each one more ridiculous than the previous. Beca shot them down one by one, finding an error in each of them. It took Jesse over an hour to eventually convince Beca of an idea he particularly liked. It did require some preparation, but it was feasible in the time they had left before the date. Beca was too tired to protest anymore, and promised Jesse to meet him the next day before she managed to shove him out of her room.

* * *

The next morning Beca managed to wake up early enough to be only fifteen minutes late for her meeting with Jesse. He didn't seem to mind and was in fact looking surprised. She greeted him before he pulled her towards the first shop they had to go. He had actually made a list of items they had to buy. It seemed like an eternity to Beca before they had gathered everything and made their way back to Jesse's dorm to finish their preparations.

They were done by the time Beca had to go to class before picking Chloe up. She didn't want to go, but Chloe had threatened to cancel if she wouldn't and the redhead had her ways of finding out. Though she didn't feel like she picked anything up in class, her results have been showing some improvement since she started listening to Chloe.

After class she hurried her way back to her dorm to change and pick up everything for the date. She was supposed to meet Chloe outside of her dorm at six sharp. Aubrey would be inside, and Beca had wanted to keep Aubrey in the dark for now. Just before she left, she got a text from her favourite redhead.

 _Aubrey found out, sorry. I made her promise to be nice to you, it will be alright._

Beca would have to ask Chloe how this happened, but she could hardly be mad. She had told Jesse herself and Aubrey was Chloe's best friend. It would have been near impossible to keep this from Aubrey any longer anyway, since they were living together. She decided not to worry about it for too long, because she had a date with a beautiful girl.

Beca made her way to Chloe's dorm and rang the doorbell. She was met by a tall blonde who was scowling at her. She took a step back and felt small all of a sudden. Aubrey had both of her hands in her sides and was looking particularly intimidating.

"Chloe is my best friend, if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and make sure you are not able to hold a stick ever again. You better be on your best behaviour for her, she only deserves the , if this thing influences the team in any way, I won't hesitate to kick you out."

At that time, Chloe appeared behind her best friend and gently shoved her aside.

"You promised to be nice, Aubrey," she said half angrily, half amused.

"This is me being nice," Aubrey stated before turning around and resuming whatever activity she was doing before. Beca nervously smiled at Chloe, who was wearing an apologetic look. Then her captain looked down and saw what Beca was carrying and immediately a childish glint appeared in her eyes.

"We are going picnicking," she squealed. When Beca nodded, she jumped in the air excitedly. Beca took her hand to keep her grounded. They walked towards the exit and made their way to the spot Jesse had shown her. It took a small hike, but Chloe didn't seem to mind. She was way to excited about the prospect of a romantic picnic.

It luckily didn't take them to long to reach their picnic side, Beca didn't really like hiking. Soon, Chloe was sitting on the blanket Beca had borrowed from Jesse, sipping wine from a plastic cup. Beca was still working on unpacking the picnic basket she had been carrying the entire trip. It included plastic plates, cutlery, candles and takeout dinner. She filled two plates and handed one to Chloe.

Chloe had been lost in thought from the moment they had arrived. She had complimented the spot and the view several times, each time met by a smirk from her date. Beca had admitted that most of it was Jesse's doing, but Chloe didn't mind. She was just astonished by the effort Beca, with some help, had obviously put in their date.

During their dinner, the sun was slowly setting. It was starting to become colder, but Beca even brought an extra blanket. They were snuggled up underneath it. Beca was rummaging through the basket. She found what she was looking for and triumphantly turned to Chloe holding two large chocolate chip muffins.

"I'm not really the romantic type and most of the date was planned with Jesse's help, but I did make this up all by myself." She was beaming proudly and looked incredibly cute while doing so. "I hope you like chocolate chip, I guessed you were more of a chocolate than a blueberry girl."

Chloe wanted to nod, but felt like that wouldn't be enough acknowledgement, so instead she went in for a kiss. The kiss turned heated quickly and her hand found it's way under Beca's shirt. The other girl moaned quietly, which encouraged Chloe to start caressing her bare skin. Beca seemed to come back to reality, because instead of encouraging the other girl, she was now softly pushing her off. Chloe leaned back and looked at her questioningly.

"You should eat your muffin first, maybe it tastes really nasty," Beca said with a cheeky smile.

She seemed a bit flushed, but Chloe decided not to comment on it and instead took a bite of her muffin. It was an amazing and familiar taste. She looked up surprised and was now looking a smirking Beca. Her date had gone back to the dinner to get her a muffin from her favourite place, how could she be any more perfect?

They talked for most of the date after that. Chloe explained to Beca how Aubrey found out about them, Aubrey could be extremely intimidating when she thought Chloe was hiding something. Beca could picture it and felt bad for asking Chloe to hide it. Chloe was just glad Beca wasn't mad at her.

* * *

With just enough light to see where they were walking, they made their way back to campus. Beca walked Chloe all the way back to her dorm room. Her date opened the door and turned around to face Beca. She wrapped her arms loosely around Beca's waist and leaned in.

"What about you stay a little while longer," she whispered into the brunette's ears. Beca's face reddened when she felt the warm breath of the sexy redhead in front of her. This feeling shut up all rational thoughts, so she nodded and followed her girl inside.

Chloe pulled her towards her bedroom. Beca was glad that Aubrey was nowhere to be found currently. She stepped into the bedroom and Chloe smoothly closed the door behind her, before focussing her attention completely on Beca. She closed the distance between them and put her hands on the brunette's hips. She then proceeded to bring her face closer until their lips touched.

Beca responded by putting one hand in Chloe's neck and laying the other on her back. She pulled Chloe in closer, feeling her body against her. Chloe's hands moved around, first softly stroking her cheek, then finding their way to her hair. At the same time she slowly moved Beca back until the back of her legs were touching the bed.

She smoothly helped Beca down without breaking contact. Beca pulled her on with her. Chloe brought her hands down again and moved them under Beca's shirt. Beca hesitated for a while, but soon followed suit. She caressed Chloe's skin and was surprised by the softness of the girl. She felt the powerful back muscles.

Chloe's hands made their way to the front, now stroking Beca's abs. She pulled back for a bit to catch her breath and complemented Beca on her body. This sobered Beca up just a bit. She wanted to do this with Chloe, but the current setting was all too familiar for her, so she was panicking on the inside. Chloe picked up on the change in her demeanor and took her time to study Beca's face.

"What's wrong? If you don't feel comfortable, you can tell me."

"It's nothing," Beca said, after taking a deep breath to try to reduce the panicky feeling a bit.

Chloe looked hurt. "You don't have to tell me right now, but please don't say it's nothing. We can just cuddle if you like that."

"You're right, I'm sorry," Beca responded, when she saw how hurt Chloe was looking. "I would like cuddling. But don't ever tell Aubrey I said that."

This brought a small smile back to Chloe's face, who pulled of her shoes and laid down on bed, leaving some space for Beca. The freshman mimicked the actions and fitted right in the space Chloe left for her. She felt the arm around her waist and buried her head in Chloe's neck. Chloe's gentle touch made her relax quickly and she fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: This chapter will contain a bit more hockey again, but still enough fluff, I hope ;)**

* * *

Waking up next to Chloe was amazing. Luckily for Beca it wasn't a one time thing. They would end up at Chloe's after most dates, usually cuddling until they fell asleep. Chloe had been doing her best not to take too much initiative and let Beca take the lead, which was hard for her at times. Beca seemed more at ease, though, so it was worth it.

They never announced that they were dating, but somehow all the girls knew after a while and everybody was fine with it, especially since they were both playing amazingly. Beca was top scorer of the team and Chloe was an important factor in midfield. They made sure that every game ended in a victory. With only two more games to go before winter break they were leading the competition and seemed to be the favourite for the championship.

Those last two games weren't easy ones though. The next game was making the entire team nervous, since they had to play the team they had also met during preparation, the team that had given Beca a concussion. Luckily this meeting was a home game, so at least the umpires would be impartial. That didn't mean that it was going to be easy, so they trained hard and prepared well.

The night before the game Chloe had asked Beca to come over to talk with her. Beca arrived to see Aubrey and Dawson also present. She knew what this was going to be about. Of course she was nervous about facing this team again, but she had already decided for herself that she wouldn't let them scare her. They had a championship to win.

She sat down, took the drink Chloe offered her and looked at the three older women sitting in front of her. Aubrey talked first.

"I trust you know what this is about. We talked to Coach Smith as well, and thought that it might be safer for you to sit this one out. They targeted you last time and there is no reason it will be different this time. We would like to keep you fit for the last game."

Beca almost interrupted her to protest. "Dude, no, I'm not going to let them scare me. I can handle it, we played worse teams already, so I can handle it. If you take me out, they're are already ahead."

Chloe and Dawson nodded in agreement, but Aubrey didn't seem convinced. She didn't get a chance to respond, because Dawson turned to her.

"If Beca wants to play, we can't exactly stop her. She is right in that the entire team is better capable of handling more physical challenges, we have been training on that. If everybody is alert, we can beat them together. If it does seem too dangerous, we can always pull Beca out."

This seemed convincing enough to Aubrey. Dawson got up to leave and Chloe sat down in Beca's lap. She put her arms around Beca's neck and looked her in the eyes. She seemed quite worried.

"You don't have to do this for the team," she said, making sure Beca was listening to her. "If you do change your mind, you can step out at any time, everybody will understand. We just want you to be safe."

Beca assured Chloe that she would be. She was touched that everybody, even Aubrey, was looking out for her. She trusted these girls, and had no doubt that they would protect her, on and off the field, so she wasn't too scared. If they worked together, they were untouchable.

* * *

Beca slept at home, Aubrey didn't allow her to sleep over the night before a game. She did not sleep too well, her dreams were haunted by the memories of the last encounter with this team. She was a bit nervous, but didn't want to let that get to her.

As soon as she stepped on the field, Chloe was there, laying a soothing hand on her back and trying to relax her. This helped her tremendously, so she was able to shoot a few good flicks in the preparation. This gave her some confidence for the game. She tried to refrain from looking at the other team while they prepared, as this would only ruin her focus.

They went back to the changing rooms after the preparation and Aubrey talked to the team. She managed to get everybody focussed, and prepared them for the physical game that was coming. The coaches explained the game plan and instructed the team to look out for each other. They had to fight this battle together.

The team stepped on the field confidently. Their opponents were looking fierce, bordering on vindictive. Barden huddled at the top of the circle and Aubrey gave them some last words of encouragement. The girls spread out over the field and Stacy walked up to the ball that was currently at the center of the field.

When Stacy shot the ball back towards Chloe, their opponents immediately ran forward. They put on high pressure and pushed their way through to the ball. They managed to get a shot away early on, but Cynthia Rose successfully turned the effort around. As soon as Barden had the ball back, Beca heard Aubrey yell at her team. They were playing timidly, exactly the opposite of what they were supposed to be doing.

Aubrey managed to run the ball up to midfield herself, avoiding some aggressive tackles in the process. She played the ball at Chloe, who was inspired by the way Aubrey was playing. She ran the ball up to the edge of the circle before winning the foul. Aubrey stepped up to take the free hit and played it to Beca near the right sideline. She passed to Lilly, who got the ball into the circle. The ball hit a foot and the umpires signalled for a penalty corner.

Barden huddled at the top of the circle, but they didn't have to deliberate long. Beca was going to go for the direct flick. Before she lined up, she felt Chloe give her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. She looked at the girls lined up in the goal. She recognized the girl that had tackled her the previous time, but decided not to be intimidated by the scowl on her face. Scoring would shut them up.

Chloe's injection was slow and it seemed like an eternity before it reached Stacy's stick. Beca saw the first runner heading her way like a bulldozer. She wouldn't have enough time to get a decent shot away and step aside to avoid the tackle. She tried to drag the ball anyway, but wasn't focussed on the ball. It slid of her stick early and flew to her right. She saw the girl closing in on her in her peripheral vision and braced for the impact.

It never came. When she looked up, she saw Aubrey lying on the floor. She seemed to be in pain, but was getting up nevertheless. The other girl was knocked to the side, but was fine. Aubrey had managed to block her and get her away from Beca. Beca ran up to her captain and helped her up. Aubrey ensured her that she was fine when Beca asked her, but stepped off the field after instructing Beca to score.

They had received a new penalty corner for the tackle, so Beca collected all the girls at the top of the circle. All girls looked worried, but Beca was feeling confident. She told Chloe to inject to her again. Everybody took their position. When Beca nodded, Chloe injected the ball towards her as fast as she could. This gave Beca more time to shoot the ball. She dragged the ball and gave it some height. The ball flew of her stick heading for the goal.

The sound of the ball hitting the underside of the knee was painful to listen to. The girl that had been storming towards Beca screamed and fell down while holding her knee. She was in a lot of pain and tears were streaming down her face. Her teammates surrounded her and her coach immediately ran onto the field. She had to be carried off and was taken to the hospital.

Barden was awarded a third penalty corner, since it was technically shoot, so a foul by the defence. Beca lined up again and this times the roles were reversed. Her opponents looked scared. She again received a perfect injection from Chloe and fired the ball into the net. None of the runners were even near her when she released the ball.

Beca pumped her fist into the air and during all of the celebrations felt a familiar body against hers. Chloe gave her a kiss on the cheek before releasing her. They walked back to their side of the field together. Beca saw Aubrey celebrating on the sideline. She seemed fine and ready to come back on.

From that moment on the game was theirs. Their opponents couldn't even pass midfield, let alone get a ball into the circle. Barden was firing away and was up five goals by half time. Aubrey was indeed fine and playing an amazing game after coming back on. When they reached double figure in the second half, she even threw her hands up in celebration and hugged Amy.

Their 11-0 victory would not be forgotten quickly, it was the biggest victory in Barden history. The men's team also had a home game, so they already had an audience during the first half, but news about the ongoing slaughtering had made its way across campus, so by the end of the game it seemed like half of Barden was cheering them on.

When they stepped off the field, the guys turned on the music. Everybody started dancing and cheering. The girls escaped to the quiet of the changing rooms. The coaches didn't have much to say, so they left quickly. Everybody was quiet for a moment, before Amy started clapping. Everybody joined in and soon they were all clapping and cheering. After a while the noise died down and everybody got into their shower routine.

They returned to the field just in time for the men's game. The guys did a good job and managed to get ahead early on in the game. They were still up by halftime and even extended the lead in the second half. Eventually they stepped off the field victorious as well. This completed the party.

* * *

Beca needed a bit of space, so she had walked away from the field after the guys had finished. She saw Aubrey approach her. Instead of her normal stern look, Aubrey looked relaxed and even happy. She was holding a beer, something Beca had not seen before.

"Thank you for protecting me in the field," Beca said. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I was just a bit shaken up, but it's fine. I just wanted to say how much satisfaction it gave me when you hit that bitch. You did a good job today, you kept your shit together and delivered."

"Thank you, you played great as well, you really stepped up as a captain."

At this, Aubrey approached her and gave her a short hug. She quickly stepped back, shot one more smile at Beca and walked away. She passed Chloe, who was now walking towards Beca.

"Did my eyes deceive me, or did Aubrey just hug you," Chloe said with a smirk.

"She may have been a bit intoxicated," Beca responded. "I'm not sure if she will remember this tomorrow.

"Oh, don't worry, Aubrey always remembers everything, it's quite creepy."

Chloe had closed the distance between them and put her hands around Beca's waist and pressed their lips together.

"I'm glad that you're okay. You really showed them. Although I normally do not condone hurting other people, she had it coming."

Beca smirked. She held onto Chloe and pulled her closer. She felt safe with her redhead captain, more so than ever before. She buried her face into Chloe's neck and melted into her embrace. This was just about the best feeling in the world.

* * *

 **A/N: I don't know if I mentioned this before, but in field hockey, you are not allowed to hit the ball with your foot, this foul is called a shoot.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Just a heads up, this one is a bit shorter, but it will be continued soon!**

* * *

The victory was celebrated extensively. Aubrey even cut the team some slack on the next training. However, they were all too aware that they still had one game to go. They were topping the poule, but weren't ahead by much. Everybody wanted to win and send a clear message to the competition, so by the second practice of the week they were back to training relentlessly.

The morning before the game, Beca woke up early. She packed her bags and made her way to the meeting spot. This last game before the winter break was an away game, but luckily they didn't have to go very far. She wasn't surprised to see Chloe and Aubrey already present. She greeted Aubrey with a small wave and Chloe with a hug and a kiss.

Soon they were joined by the other girls. When everybody had gathered, they got on the bus. Beca sat down near the middle while Chloe joined Aubrey in the front. The two captains always talked strategies on the ride, and today was no different. Apparently Aubrey knew most of the girls quite well and heard some rumours about the new recruits. Beca didn't want to focus too much on which girl on the other team was or wasn't a good player, so she put on her headphones and drowned out the chatter around her.

They arrived quite early and their coaches weren't present yet, so Aubrey allowed the girls to grab some coffee in the canteen. Most of the girls didn't waste the opportunity, but Beca wasn't up for coffee. Since Chloe was still talking to Aubrey and Beca didn't feel much like talking anyway, she decided to step outside for a breath of fresh air.

Once outside, she noticed that their opponents were gathering as well. They were wearing red track suits and were talking in small groups. Suddenly, one of the girls called out her name. Beca was stunned when she saw a grinning girl walk towards her. She hadn't seen this girl in more than six months, and hadn't planned on it either. The last time seeing her former best friend and high school team captain wasn't under the best circumstances, so Beca was confused why the other girl seemed so happy to see her. She certainly wasn't.

"Hey Beca, are you playing for Barden now?"

"What do you want, Naomi?" Beca said, while trying to keep her anger in check.

"Wow, no need to be this hostile, I'm just trying to be friendly."

"Well, you could have been friendly a year ago."

"I know we both said some things and feelings were hurt, but I was hoping that we could talk about it over a cup of coffee some time."

Beca laughed hollowly, she had no idea where Naomi got the nerves. The feelings that were hurt were predominantly hers, and she had no intention to bring back those memories. She had left for Barden to please her father, but also to be far from her former high school and all people in it. She shook her head while laughing and wanted to turn around to get away when she felt a hand grab her arm.

"Listen Beca, I just want to resolve things, there is no need for you to be rude."

The tone made her shiver and she wanted to get away. She didn't believe Naomi really had good intentions, and she didn't think anything could be resolved. When she tried to walk away, Naomi tightened the grip and wouldn't let go. She was looking down on Beca and looked very threatening.

At that moment, she heard Chloe call her name. She called out for her girlfriend and was relieved when she saw her walk around the corner. They made eye contact and Chloe picked up on the silent cry for help from her girlfriend. She quickly walked towards Beca and put her arm around her. When Naomi saw the redhead approach, she let go of Beca and took a step back. Chloe extended her arm and introduced herself as Beca's girlfriend. At this, Naomi excused herself rather rudely.

Chloe looked at her girlfriend questioning, but the girl was already shaking her head. She knew that Chloe had a lot of questions, but she couldn't do it right now. They had a game to focus on.

"We will talk later," she said, before walking towards the changing rooms.

* * *

Despite trying her best to concentrate on her own game, Beca kept catching glances of Naomi warming up on the other side of the field. She tried her hardest to drown out everything, but was unsuccessful. Because of her lack of focus her drag flicks were all over the place. Both coaches and Aubrey had already asked her for an explanation, which she didn't give. This frustrated her blonde captain, who had now resorted to shouting at Beca, which in turn rubbed the freshman the wrong way.

"What is wrong with you today, Mitchell? Come on, you need to focus," Aubrey shouted after yet another failed drag flick.

At that point Beca couldn't take it anymore. She was fed up with Aubrey yelling at her, but even madder with herself for getting distracted by the incident. In her frustration she snapped at Aubrey.

"You don't think I'm trying? I really don't need you yelling at me!"

She turned around and walked off the field. She needed a bit of time to clear her head. She vaguely heard Aubrey calling her, but was already too far away to hear what she was yelling. She felt the other girls of her team look at her, but didn't care. She just needed to get out of here. She made her way to the changing rooms and sat down on one of the benches. She dropped her head in her hands, shut her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing.

She heard footsteps approaching and looked up just enough to see a familiar pair of hockey shoes. She felt her girlfriend sit down next to her and put her hand on her back. Chloe waited patiently for Beca to talk, but when she didn't, she decided that her girlfriend needed a small push.

"Sweetie, could you please talk to me," Chloe asked finally. She had wanted to give Beca all the time she wanted, but knew there wasn't a lot of time left before the game would start, and they needed Beca to play. When Beca didn't respond she got up from the bench, crouched in front of her and grabbed her wrists. Gently, she pulled the hands away to reveal a pale face.

"Becs, I know you don't want to talk, but you can't play like this and we really need you. Talking might help you calm down a bit. Does it have something to do with that girl from earlier?"

A combination of the worried look Chloe was giving her and the weight of bottled up emotions made Beca open up.

"That girl was Naomi, former best friend and captain," Beca said, checking if Chloe remembered what she had already told her.

"You told me about her before, she spread a rumour about you," Chloe said.

"That's the one," Beca said while nodding. "Well, I didn't tell you the entire story. We dated for a while. At first it was a lot of fun, she was already my best friend, so it was easy to be something more. We hung out a lot during the summer holidays, but after the competition started again, things started to change. She couldn't handle me scoring more and getting more praise. In response she became very competitive in everything. She tried to bring me down every chance she got. I eventually ended it, which was when she started to spread those rumours. But that wasn't the end."

Chloe shifter her hand to Beca's leg and gave her an encouraging look.

"She had expected me to leave the team, so she could be the star, but I wanted to finish the season. Right before the championship game a local newspaper wanted an interview, but they specifically asked for me, and I was supposed to be featured on the front page. She was so mad about this that she called the newspaper anonymously with another rumour. She told them that I had sexually assaulted her. The newspaper didn't know if it was true, but didn't want to take the chance and pulled the story. Our school heard about it, but they couldn't expel me, since there was no evidence and they didn't know who had called. They did kick me off the team. My teammates made sure those last few weeks of high school were hell, I got out of there as soon as I graduated."

Chloe's face had gone from concern to surprise to outright horror. She was getting up and pulled Beca in for a hug. While Beca's expression was blank, Chloe had tears in her eyes. She was lost for words. After a while she released Beca and looked at her.

"Thank you so much for telling me. I can't believe anybody could be this mean. She needs a high five, in her face, with a chair!"

This made Beca smile a bit. They heard the sound of a whistle and Chloe looked shocked.

"I have to get to the field. If you want to, you can stay here for a bit. We can explain it."

Beca shook her head and stood up. She didn't want to let her team down. They ran back to the field together and joined the huddle that had already formed on the top of the D. They received some questioning looks, but ignored it for now. Aubrey didn't even grand Beca a look, but ignored her completely as she finished her speech. When the huddle broke, she told Beca to take a seat on the bench. Beca obliged, not wanting to anger Aubrey anymore right now. Talking to Chloe had relieved some stress she was feeling and she was ready to kick some ass as soon as she was allowed back on the field.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm sorry...**

* * *

Beca didn't make it onto the field until halfway through the first half. The team had managed to keep up a good defence and were slowly getting more circle penetrations, but neither side had seen any real chances. As Beca was watching the game she grew anxious. She wanted to get out on the field and make a difference. Her replacement was obviously a weak point in their defence and the opponents were picking up on that.

When she did make it back onto the field, she was immediately put under pressure. Their opponents kept attacking over her side of the field. She held them back the first time, but made a foul in the process. When they lined up to take the free hit, Beca saw Naomi run around in attack and freeing herself up. She took a big step to her left to cover the attacker, but consequently left a big gap on the other side. Another attacker ran into the free space and received the ball. She broke through only to be stopped by Aubrey at the edge of the circle.

Beca cursed under her breath. She knew she had to trust that the girls behind her would be covered, she had to her own area of the field to defend. Barden was already in a counter attack, and Beca ran to cover the distance between the defenders and attackers. The attack was on the other side of the field, so she took a defensive position in midfield. Her teammates were doing a great job and had nearly gotten the ball into the circle. The ball was snatched from them at the last minute and was pushed away directly towards Beca in sheer panic.

Beca hadn't been ready to receive the ball, so when it hit her stick it took her an extra second to decide her next action. This allowed the attackers to run a tackle back. She heard Chloe yell a warning before she heard the footsteps closing in on her. She made a run for it, but was caught in between several opponents quickly. She managed to get a foul out of it, but by that time their opposition had already set up their defense.

Beca kept receiving more and more pressure, by the end of the first half all attacks were set up on her side of the field. She made a lot of defensive mistakes and Aubrey had to step in most of the time. They hadn't conceided a goal so far, but it felt like it was just a matter of time. Barden didn't go into half time too confidently and Aubrey yelling at them didn't help much either. It was a close game and they had to be on point, but they made too many small mistakes. Eventually one of them would result in a goal.

When the coaches and captains finished their talks, the girls made their way back to the field, but Aubrey asked Beca to stay behind. Chloe was standing at her co-captain's side with a worried look. Before either captain could say anything, Beca jumped in.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you or walked off the field earlier," she acknowledged. "I'm sorry."

"No, you shouldn't have, but we'll deal with that later. I need to know what is going on, I have never seen you play this badly. If we want to have any chance to go home with a win today, you need to get your shit together."

"I know, I'm trying," Beca said in response. She really was, but she didn't know how to get back into the game.

"So what is going on?" Aubrey asked. She seemed determined to find out what was bothering Beca, probably so she could fix it. Sharing with one person was already a stretch for Beca though, and she didn't think telling Aubrey would be any help to her situation.

"I will get it under control," she deflected.

"Beca, I'm sorry to say this, but if you can't even tell me what is going on, how are you going to get it under control? If I am not confident that you will be playing any better, I will have to bench you for the rest of the game."

Beca felt her face grow pale. "Aubrey, I've got this."

Aubrey started to turn around and walk away, but was stopped by Chloe. "Aubrey, a word please?"

Chloe shot Beca a look, indicating that she should leave. Beca picked up on this and made herself scarce. She wondered what Chloe could be saying to convince Aubrey, but she surely had her ways. Chloe knew Aubrey way better than Beca did and seemed to have a calming effect on the blonde girl.

Just before the start of half time Chloe and Aubrey stepped onto the field. Aubrey was glancing at Beca with pity all over her face. She walked towards the coaches and talked to them in a hushed tone, while glancing at Beca occasionally. Meanwhile Chloe made her way to Beca's side.

"What did you say to her?" Beca asked her girlfriend. The girl shrugged and wanted to say something, but was cut off by the whistle. Coach Smith called Beca towards the bench. She wasn't too happy with this, but was confidence that she would be allowed back in again soon.

After a while Coach Smith indeed told her to get ready to be substituted. She put on her glove, shoved her mouth guard in her mouth and made her way to the midline. Right before she could go in, she saw that Naomi was being switched out. The girl bumped her shoulder as she walked out of the field.

"Now look who can't handle the pressure," she said under her breath before sitting down on the bench.

Beca didn't have any time to think about the comment, because she had to step into the field. From the moment she stepped onto the field, she heard Aubrey and even Chloe give her instructions. They did everything they could to keep her on point. This helped and things turned around for Barden. They were attacking more often than not and had had some big chances. When the long awaited goal finally came, Stacy shot the ball beautifully past the goalie, everybody was relieved.

About ten minutes before the end of the game, Beca saw Naomi enter the field again. Instead of her usual position in attack, she was replacing Beca's direct opponent. Barden was currently in defense. Beca had taken her position next to Chloe and they were trying to pressure the defender into making a foul. The defender passed to Naomi, who ran into the space in front of Beca. She now had to prevent the girl from running up the sideline, so she stepped to the side. Naomi faked towards the middle, causing Beca to be caught off guard. Instead of watching the ball, she was watching the player, and made the beginner mistake of following the body movement.

Beca's mistake opened up the line and Naomi made a run for it. She ran passed Beca and passed the ball to one of the attackers. Beca was already running the tackle back, but she was too slow. She could only helplessly watch as Naomi got the ball back at the top of the circle and hammered it into the net.

Beca was substituted immediately and she plumped down on the bench. She watched the game end in a draw, which neither team was happy about. Barden were still ahead in the poule, but this game broke their winning streak. Aubrey looked extremely angry and Chloe looked defeated. They all shook hands and quickly made their way to the changing rooms. Everybody wanted to shower quickly and go back home. Aubrey didn't even bother to talk to the team before their shower.

* * *

When they got back on campus everybody scattered. Chloe had asked Beca to wait, so Beca was currently waiting awkwardly while the coaches and captains had a small talk. When they finished and Chloe turned towards her, she immediately felt like something was off. The girl was smiling at her, but the smile hadn't spread to her eyes like it normally did.

"We talked about your behaviour today," Aubrey informed her. "It is unacceptable that you walked off the field like that. We cannot condone this kind of behaviour, but we understand that there were special circumstances." Aubrey and Beca simultaneously glanced at Chloe. "We're not going to kick you out, but we do think it is best if you don't play the next game against your uhm… ex-girlfriend. Have a nice winter break."

Before Beca could respond Aubrey had already turned around and made her way towards her dorm. Both coaches wished her a nice winter break as well and walked towards their cars. Beca was now left with just Chloe.

"You told them?" she asked her girlfriend. "Why would you do that?"

"They were talking about kicking you off the team. Aubrey asked me if I knew anything that could soften the circumstances, so I told them. I was trying to help you."

"I thought that if I told you something, you could at least keep it to yourself," Beca said a bit too angrily.

"I get that you are angry, but I thought that you would prefer staying in the team," Chloe said as calmly as she could at this point.

"Maybe that is not your call to make."

"I think that you're overreacting. It's not like everybody knows not, Aubrey and the coaches are not going to tell anybody."

That was definitely the wrong thing to say to Beca right now. She looked like she was about to explode.

"You don't get it, do you? Everybody in my hometown started looking differently at me after what happened, don't you think that the coaches will as well? I even see that same look in your eyes. My father made me a deal to convince me to come here and I took it because it is my chance to get away next year. I just wanted to finish this year quietly."

"What do you mean, get away?" Chloe asked. Beca swallowed. They hadn't talked about their plans for next year yet, and this didn't seem like the best moment, but she had let it slip and couldn't back down now.

"I am moving to LA. I made the deal with my father that if I stay here for a year and play hockey, he will help me move," Beca admitted. Chloe looked at Beca like she just killed a puppy.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly. Tears started falling from her eyes and her body shivered. Beca felt her heart break and she knew she had messed up. The moment reminded her of the moment before she had told Chloe she was gay. The look on Chloe's face resembled the look she had then. But then, Beca could still fix it. Now it seemed too late.

"I didn't know how, I'm sorry," was the only thing she could think to say. She saw that this was not enough. Chloe's eyes, which were always so soft and friendly, turned cold as stone. Her face was pale with red streaks from the tears. Her mouth was just a thin line. Beca looked at her for a while before the words she had been dreading came out of the redhead's mouth.

"I think we should break up."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: It's really nice to see so many people invested in this story, thank you for all the support!**

* * *

After Chloe walked away from Beca, she couldn't move. She stared at Chloe's back until it was no longer visible. She had no idea how long she had been standing there before the cold got the best of her. She started moving, but didn't want to go back to her dorm. She justed started walking without thinking. Walking was good, it meant doing something. She felt a pull towards Chloe's apartment, but knew that going there wasn't a good idea, so she changed her direction. She walked off campus, but kept moving. She felt the fatigue in her legs from the game, but kept going. She felt the weight of her bag on her shoulders, but didn't stop.

When it started getting dark, she decided it might be wise to turn around, so she did. By this time she had been walking for a long time, and it would take at least as long to get home, if she had remembered how to walk back. Her phone had died about halfway through the walk, so she couldn't check where she was. Some roads looked vaguely familiar, but then again, every road looked similar. She made sure to check the road signs she passed this time round. After wandering around for a while, she finally found one that indicated that Barden was ten miles away.

She didn't care that she was hungry or tired, because as long as she was feeling these things, she didn't have a chance to replay the earlier conversation in her head. She could focus on the strain on her shoulders, the pain in her feet or the growling of her stomach instead. And so she did for ten long miles. Any thought of Chloe was suppressed immediately, but she couldn't stop the words from floating around in her mind.

 _I think we should break up_

By the time she got back on campus everything hurt. She went to her dorm, threw her bag on the floor and laid down on her bed. The pain in her shoulders and feet prevented sleep for a while, but eventually it got the better of her, so she dozed off.

Sleeping wasn't much better than staying awake. As soon as she fell asleep, nightmares haunted her dreams and it didn't take long for her to wake up again. She went through the process of falling asleep, getting nightmares and waking up several times, and by the time it was morning, she was wrecked. She hadn't eaten since the previous afternoon, her feet were blistered from the walk yesterday and her shoulders were killing her. She didn't get much sleep either, which didn't help.

She wanted to check the time on her phone, but realized she hadn't charged it. Kimmy Jin wasn't here anymore, so she was probably already late for her morning lecture. She decided to charge her phone and get some breakfast in the meantime. When she got back and checked her phone, she saw that there were several messages waiting for her. A few teammates had invited her to celebrate the first place they currently still held in the poule. Amy texted her a couple of time, each time probably more drunk than the last. Jesse had asked her about the result of the game and whether she had any plans later. Her father sent her a message congratulating her on their performance in the fall season and inviting her over for dinner.

Messages from Chloe were tangibly absent, not that Beca really expected anything. Of course she secretly hoped that yesterday was just a bad dream, but she knew it wasn't. She put her phone away without answering any of the texts and laid down on her bed. She was feeling tired enough to fall back asleep, but knew it wouldn't do much good. She reached over her head to grab her headphones from the desk and started blasting her music.

Listening to music didn't inspire her to make any new mixes, like it normally did. After a while it didn't even distract her enough to keep out the thoughts of red hair and tears, so she decided that she needed to do something else. The next best distraction has always been running for Beca, so despite the fatigue and the pain in her feet she put on her running shoes. She switched to her running playlist and stepped outside.

Running was good, it did the job of distracting her. She ran fast and far until her feet wouldn't carry her anymore. She ended back at her dorm covered in sweat. She took a quick shower and found herself back on her bed. By this time she was out of ideas on how to distract herself. Music didn't help, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't walk another step.

Eventually she grabbed her phone again. She saw some new messages from the girls, but none were interesting enough to reply to. She unconsciously clicked on Chloe's name and read the last few messages they had exchanged. They weren't particularly interesting or funny, but they made her smile nonetheless. She quickly realized this was exactly the opposite of distracting herself, so she turned off her phone and got her laptop.

The rest of the day was spend with playing computer games. By the time it got dark she was incredibly skilled at one particularly fighting game and she killed opponents left and right. She stopped playing when Kimmy Jin requested silence and went to bed. She considered taking some aspirins to help her sleep, but decided against it, because it seemed a bad habit to get into. She was tired enough to fall asleep anyway.

After a very bad night of sleep, she forced herself to get up in the morning, because sleeping seemed like the worse of two options right now. She put on her running shoes again, because the pain in her feet had decreased and she didn't really have anything better to do. She put on her headphones and ran with the same strategy she did yesterday, just run until you get too tired to go on.

She found out that running on an empty stomach was not a good idea, so she was drained by the time she made her way back onto campus. By that time the battery on her phone had also died, she had forgotten to charge it again, so her headphones were now hanging around her neck idly. She was startled when she heard someone call her name. She looked around and saw Stacy walk towards her. She didn't feel like having any social interaction at the moment, so she just greeted the girl and wanted to run along, but she was already too late.

"You're taking Aubrey's winter break cardio rules very seriously," Stacy said teasingly. When she got closer, she had a chance to examine her teammate closer and saw the state Beca was in. "Wow, Beca, are you okay?"

Beca nodded and made an attempt to run along. Stacy stopped her though and put her hands on Beca's shoulders. She studied Beca's face for a moment before pulling her along. Beca let the other girl drag her to a nearby bench and sat down. Stacy kneeled in front of her with worry in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Beca considered telling her friend that everything was just peachy and that she just wanted to shower, but she had gotten a glimpse of her reflection that morning and knew that she looked far from fine. She went with the truth instead.

"Chloe broke up with me."

At that point, something inside of her broke. She had been avoiding feeling anything at all for the last two days, but this simple statement meant two days worth of emotions hitting her at once. Tears fell from her eyes and she felt like she was about to puke, or faint, of both. She felt Stacy's arms around her and leaned into the girl. They sat like that for a while until Beca's breathing evened out and her tears stopped streaming.

Stacy led her back to her dorm and told her to take a shower while she would get them something to eat. Once showered and fed, Beca felt a bit better. They sat down and she told Stacy the stripped down version of last Sunday. She didn't include the events of her senior year of high school in the story, but enough for Stacy to understand why she and Chloe had a fight in the first place. When she revealed the information about LA, Stacy's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't say anything. When Beca was done, they stayed silent for a while.

"Do you love her?" Stacy asked eventually. Beca hadn't expected the question and took her time to answer. Chloe was the one person that made her feel completely at ease. She was caring, smart, funny and, not to be forgotten, extremely hot. Even though Beca had been pissed about Chloe telling her secret at first, she also realized that it showed just how much Chloe cared about her.

"Yes," she stated.

"Then you need to talk to her and tell her that. An apology goes a long way, you know."

Beca wasn't too sure, she had never seen Chloe the way she had been yesterday. She couldn't just knock on her door and hope for the best, could she?

"You just need to go see her. Not talking never helps these situations."

Beca looks at Stacy. She had been able to laugh with the busty brunette the last half year, but never realized how much good advice she actually gave. She was glad that she could call this girl her friend.

"When did you become this wise," she joked. Stacy shrugged. Beca started putting on her jacket and got ready to leave.

"Maybe you should change before you go out," Stacy said mockingly. Beca looked down and realized that she was wearing a pair of old sweatpants and a shirt that was two sizes too big. She nodded and went over to her closet to pull out a nice pair of jeans and shirt of the right size. After she changed Stacy told her that she had to go, but that if Beca needed her she was just a text away. Beca thanked her for everything and promised her that she would let her know how it went.

* * *

The walk to Chloe's door was nerve-racking. Beca thought about what she was going to say, but everything seemed wrong. She was wondering in what state she would find Chloe. She hoped her captain was handling things better than she had. She realized that she hadn't checked whether Chloe was home at all, it could very well be that she was at a lecture, but figured it was too late to turn back now.

When she arrived at the all too familiar door, she took a few deep breaths and knocked. She listened intently but heard nothing the first few seconds. After a while she heard the sound of footsteps followed by the door being opened. She looked up to see a face surrounded by blonde hair, not exactly the person she wanted to see at the moment.

"Is Chloe here?" she asked nervously.

"No, Chloe isn't here," Aubrey responded, before she started to close the door.

"Wait, Aubrey, do you know when she will be back? I need to talk to her."

"I think you misunderstood. She is not in Barden anymore. She finished most of her coursework early and left yesterday. She will be back after winter break."

Aubrey closed the door. Beca was still staring at it. Chloe never told her she was planning to leave and Beca assumed that finishing coursework early would take some preparation, meaning that Chloe knew she would leave. But why?


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Sorry to keep you hanging like that the last week, I hope this chapter makes up for it. I might not be able to upload much the next few weeks, but instead you could watch the European Championships that start in London next Friday :)**

* * *

Beca considered her options. Aubrey clearly wasn't going to explain anything. Stacie also didn't know Chloe was gone, otherwise she would have told Beca, and if the tall brunette didn't know, it was unlikely that any of her other teammates had more information. The best thing to do right now was probably go directly to the source. She had to call Chloe. Since she had already mustered up the nerves to got to her apartment, she might as well call while she was here.

Beca got out her phone and looked up Chloe in her contacts. She smiled when she saw the heart behind Chloe's name, something the redhead was responsible for, and pressed call. The phone rung a few times before she was redirected to voicemail. She hadn't really planned out what she was going to say, so she was silent for a moment after the beep, but then started talking.

"Hey Chlo, I'm at your apartment, but Aubrey said that you left Barden already. I would really like to talk about what happened. Not talking to you or seeing you is driving me crazy. Will you please call me back when you get this message?" She hesitated for a moment before she wrapped up her message. "I love you."

She hung up the phone and made her way over to Stacie's. She knew that if she went back to her dorm and sat around by herself, she would go crazy again. Stacie would also not like it if she sat around moping, the girl had been insistent on Beca coming to her if she needed company.

She hung out with Stacie the rest of the day, but eventually went back to her own dorm. Her friend had made her promise to go to bed at a decent time and get up to go to her lecture the next morning. She had found out that Beca had been skipping them the last few days, and reminded Beca that the coaches could still decide to kick her off the team if her grades weren't good enough.

Beca arrived back at her dorm and got ready for bed. She felt a lot more relaxed than the previous days and was confident that this night's sleep would be better than the last few. She found out she was right, as she slept through the night only to be woken by a ringing sound early in the morning. She checked the time on her phone and decided it was way too early to be woken up, until she realized the ringing sound meant someone was calling her. She checked the caller ID and read Chloe's name, so she answered the phone.

"Hey Becs, are you awake?"

"I am now," Beca said jokingly, before realizing joking right now probably wasn't the best idea. "Hi Chloe."

"I'm sorry to call you this early. I don't have a lot of spare time."

"Where are you?" Beca asked. She had been wanting to ask this question ever since she left Chloe's apartment yesterday. She heard Chloe sigh in response.

"It's kind of a long story, can you please hear me out before you say anything?" Beca agreed, but asked Chloe to wait for a bit while she stepped outside. She didn't need Kimmy Jin listening in on this conversation. Once she found a secluded spot outside she told Chloe to proceed.

"Okay, so last summer a rumour was going around that coaches of the national team were looking for new talent and they wanted to try something new. They were going to recruit more young players and have them train for a few weeks. Afterwards they would make a selection of the best players. Coaches could nominate their players and they would watch some of the matches and make a decision. Dawson told me that she had recommended me last summer. I didn't think I would make it, but I made a agreement with Barden to finish some of the coursework early in case I got the call. I never got a call, that is until last week. One of the other girls was injured, so they had to find a replacement and I was next on the list."

Beca interrupted her at that point. "Wait, you are training with the national team right now?"

"Well not exactly, we are training with a group of new recruits for the next few weeks. The best players will be asked to train with the national team. Anyway, I wanted to tell you then, but I thought you might not like me leaving early and would be distracted the last game. I wanted to talk to you about it after the game, but…"

"Yeah, I know," Beca said. She didn't really know what to say about all of this. She was glad that Chloe had gotten this opportunity, but hurt that she hadn't told her. On the other hand, she couldn't exactly blame the girl when she had kept some things from her as well. It was just overall a messy situation.

"You broke up with me," she said after a few moments of silence. She heard Chloe breathing on the other end of the line, but she didn't say anything. They sat in silence until Chloe spoke again.

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to share this amazing news with you, but then you were angry and I was angry and I was hurt and stressed and just didn't know what to do anymore. Since I was leaving soon anyway I thought it might be easier for now. I was wrong, it was horrible the last two days. I have been playing crappy and everything just feels wrong."

"Then what do you want?" Beca asked. She was glad that Chloe changed her mind and she wanted to believe that things could be fixed again, but she needed to hear Chloe say it.

"I want you, I want us to fix this. I don't want us to be afraid to share our plans and dreams. I get that we might not be living in the same place, but I want it to work. I know I hurt you and I get if you don't want the same right now, but I hope we can try again."

Beca let out the breath she had been holding. She wanted nothing more than to hear Chloe say this. She was glad that Chloe hadn't given up on her.

"I should have told you about LA, I'm sorry. I am not used to sharing anything with other people. I will try my best to tell you things from now on. I really missed you the last few days. I thought I blew it."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Beca Mitchell," Chloe joked. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, before Beca heard voices on the other end of the line.

"I have to go," Chloe told her. "We start the day at seven with breakfast before starting morning practice. It is really killing. I will try to call you again when I have the time."

"Thank you for calling, Chlo. I'm glad we talked." Beca was sad that Chloe had to go, but was feeling much better after their talk.

"Me too. And Beca, I better not hear that your grades dropped or that you skipped any lectures while I was away."

"Yeah yeah, you go show those amateurs how it's done. I love you, Chloe Beale."

"I love you too, Beca Mitchell."

* * *

That afternoon Beca got another call from Chloe, but unfortunately the redhead didn't have much time. They had a very tight schedule and she had to be at dinner in time. They talked about their day for a bit. Chloe told her that she did much better in practice today. When it was almost time to hang up, Chloe voice became nervous.

"Chlo, what's going on?" Beca asked anxiously.

"I forgot to tell you this morning, but I told Aubrey about your plans to go to LA and she was not exactly amused. I think you should go talk to her." She stayed silent for a moment. "Are you mad I told her?"

"No, she would have found out sooner or later anyway. I will talk to her. If you don't hear anything from me tonight your best friend probably killed me. This does explain why she seemed so angry earlier."

"I'm sorry," Chloe said with a small voice.

"Don't worry about it. I will talk to her. You focus on playing well, okay?"

"I will, thank you. I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

Beca decided that it was no use to delay talking to her blonde captain, so she made her way to the familiar door immediately after dinner. She took a few deep breaths before she knocked on the door. It took a few moments before the door was opened. As soon as Aubrey saw who was at her door, her face turned into a scowl.

"I told you already, Chloe is not here," she said while she was already closing the door.

Beca took a step forward so Aubrey couldn't close the door. "I know, I came to talk to you."

"Well, you could have talked to me four months ago and you didn't. Why would I want to talk to you now?" Aubrey put both of her hands on her hips and looked extremely intimidating. She was obviously pissed at Beca.

"I understand that you're angry, I would like to explain my actions, if you let me," Beca responded. She didn't step back this time, she wanted to show her captain that she had no intention of leaving. She needed to do this for the team and most of all Chloe.

Aubrey looked at her tentatively for a moment, but eventually stepped aside just enough to let Beca through. The smaller girl stepped into the apartment. She didn't dare to sit down until Aubrey did and gestured at one of the chairs opposite her. Aubrey looked at her intently and gestured for her to start talking.

"Chloe told me she told you about my plans to go to LA next year. I wanted to go last year, but my father wanted me to go to college. He offered me a deal, if I would go to Barden, join the hockey team and make an effort for a year, he would help me move to LA. I didn't want to play hockey due to last year's events, but when I started playing here, I realized I was actually enjoying it again. I never expected to get this attached to you guys. I should have told you about my plans from the start."

"Yes, you should have! Did you ever consider that we're actually trying to build something here. I could have chosen a dozen other girls who would be willing to stay for the next four years, but instead I chose you. I had this nagging feeling that something bad would come of it, that's why we revealed your name last when we announced the team. I wanted to see your reaction, and when I saw that you were genuinely relieved, I thought that maybe I was wrong. But now I know I was right all along."

Beca didn't really know what to say to that. Aubrey was right, of course. Before she could come up with a good response, Aubrey continued.

"Chloe protected you from the beginning. She is the reason you made the team in the first place and the reason you are still on the team. How do you think she feels about you running off without telling her. You have no idea in what kind of state she came to me Sunday night. Why would you even start a relationship with her when you knew you would be gone soon?"

"I never planned to get involved with Chloe, but things happened. I was afraid to tell her about LA, and before I knew it, it was too late."

"I know she forgave you already, but you're not off the hook with me. You better make this right. You two need to talk about your plans and work it out. As for the team, I can't exactly kick you off halfway through the season, unfortunately. You better bring your A game each practice and match, because if I find an excuse to bench you, I will take it. I would like for you to leave now."

Beca didn't like the way the conversation ended, but didn't want to cross Aubrey either, so she stood up and made her way to the door. Before Aubrey closed the door behind her, she turned around to face her captain one more time.

"I really am sorry."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: First of all, sorry for the long wait. For those seeking an explanation, I moved to another country in the last weeks, so I have been busy with that. I am eager to continue this story, so here is a short chapter. More to come soon! Thank you guys for the continued support!**

* * *

Beca didn't know how to make things up with Aubrey, so she decided that training as much as possible over the winter break would be the best mode of action. Since Chloe was gone and she didn't feel like spending the time with her father, she needed something to do anyway. She went for runs most of the days, worked on her core strength and watched old games during the nights she didn't have a shift at the radio station. At times one of her teammates or Jesse would join her, but she was mostly alone with her music. She dedicated part of her time on music as well and started making music specifically for her workouts.

The weekend before classes started again Chloe would come back and frankly, Beca couldn't wait. Aubrey had wanted to pick up her best friend and Beca decided not to cross the blonde, so she was sitting in her dorm waiting for Chloe to come by. She killed her time watching games from the London Olympics. Since she wasn't blasting music for once, she could hear the door and turned around quickly. As soon as she caught a glimpse of red hair, she flew towards her girlfriend and hugged her tightly. This was very uncharacteristic of her, she was well aware, but she couldn't help it. Chloe returned the hug just as tightly and for a moment they were just standing there.

After a while Beca found the strength to release her girlfriend and took a step back. She looked at Chloe and the other girl was staring back at her. Chloe looked taller somehow, and stronger. Her arm muscles were exposed by the shirt she was wearing and had visibly grown. She looked really good. Beca took her time admiring this new form. When she finally realized that she was behaving rather rudely, she took Chloe's hand, made her sit down on the bed and offered her something to drink. When both of them were holding their preferred drinks, Beca sat down next to Chloe, turned to face her, and asked her to tell her everything.

The rest of the night consisted of Chloe telling Beca about the other girls, the exercises, the food and anything remotely interesting that had happened. Beca didn't have many interesting stories, so she mainly listened. She loved looking at her girlfriend telling stories, since Chloe always accompanied her words with many gestures and expressions. When both of them were done sharing their stories, it was already late. They were both very tired and Beca didn't want Chloe to leave, so they snuggled up in Beca's small bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning Beca was up early. Sharing the small bed with Chloe wasn't ideal, since her girlfriend needed her space. She had pulled up her leg, so that the knee was poking in Beca's back, and was taking up at least two thirds of the bed. Beca decided that she might as well get up and get them some breakfast, since she wasn't going to sleep much more anyway. She put on some decent clothes and went to Chloe's favourite shop.

By the time she got back, Chloe had stirred and was now lying with her face to the wall. There was just a tiny space left besides her. Beca crawled in and laid her arm across Chloe's exposed stomach. She heard Chloe's breathing change and felt a hand on her arm.

'Goodmorning, babe," Chloe said with a voice that was course from talking too much the previous night. "I've missed waking up next to you."

"Goodmorning," Beca replied. "I got you breakfast, if you're ready to get up."

"No, five more minutes," Chloe said in the cutest voice, before pulling Beca in even closer. Beca couldn't help but smile and let herself drift away. It was a lot longer that five minutes before they finally got around to breakfast. Chloe thanked Beca at least a dozen times for getting her favourite. Beca was just glad have her girlfriend here with her and to see her happy.

After breakfast Chloe had to get back to Aubrey, since the blonde was still her best friend and they both had loads to tell each other. Beca only reluctantly agreed, but knew that Aubrey was important to her girlfriend and she knew better than to keep Aubrey from her best friend. Besides, Chloe promised her that she would come by again later.

* * *

Chloe was a nervous wreck for most of the next week. She was anticipating the phone call on the selection results. Beca tried to keep her busy best she could. Consequently they spend a lot of time together, something both girls didn't mind. The closer the phone call came, the more convinced Chloe was that she wasn't good enough. Beca tried to convince her otherwise, but wasn't sure she was getting through to Chloe.

When the day of the phone call finally came, Chloe was pacing around in Beca's dorm. Her nervous behaviour had scared Kimmy Jin away earlier, so it was just the two of them. The phone was lying on Beca's desk. Beca was sitting on her bed watching Chloe walk around nervously, she didn't know what to do anymore. She wasn't very good with words. She had tried to pull Chloe onto the bed to cuddle earlier, but even that didn't work, since her girlfriend was too restless.

Finally the phone call came. Chloe looked at her phone like it was an alien device. She didn't make any movement to pick it up, so Beca retrieved the phone and shoved it in her hands. Chloe answered the call with a small voice. Then she said nothing for a long time. She didn't have to for Beca to know the result. The normal radiating smile had disappeared from her face and was replaced by a very serious look.

Chloe gripped onto the phone long after the phone call had finished. Her body had gone rigid and her face had fell. Beca first wanted to give her girlfriend some time, but figured out that wasn't what her girlfriend needed after a while, so she stood up and embraced Chloe. The redhead collapsed into her arms and silent tears started flowing. Comforting people wasn't Beca's thing, but she tried her best.

When Chloe had calmed down a bit, they sat down together and Chloe started talking. She told Beca about her dreams to make it into the national team. She told her that she wouldn't let anything stop her and that she would start to train even harder. She would request a meeting to discuss her weaknesses and would work on them. She wanted this more than anything. Beca was glad to see a bit of the optimistic Chloe shine through.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," Beca said when Chloe was done talking. "I know you can make it if you work hard and keep improving. You'll get another chance and they will see that they made a mistake."

Chloe shuffled so she could sit on Beca's lap and draped herself around the smaller brunette. "I love you so much, thank you for putting up with me."

"I love you too," Beca responded.

* * *

When classes started again, Beca was getting busier. She was still working out a lot, now most of the time together with Chloe, had her shifts at the radio station and even attended most of her lectures. She spend most of her free time either on Chloe or her music, and if possible, both at the same time. This made time fly, and before she knew it she was back on the pitch for the first training of the spring season. Aubrey and the coaches wanted to dedicate this first training to evaluating everybody's fitness level. Beca knew she was fine, and so was Chloe, but some of the other girls hadn't taken Aubrey's cardio schedule to serious during the holidays and it showed. That meant that they barely played any hockey, but focussed on getting back into shape.

Aubrey was distant and cold towards Beca the entire training, and even both of her coaches didn't seem too pleased with her. She obliged to Aubrey's orders best she could and made it through without giving the blonde a reason to shout at her. This seemed to make her captain even more furious. Chloe tried to defuse the situation several times, but failed miserably. When everybody was packing their bags, she walked towards Beca.

"I'm going to talk to her again. This tension is creating a bad atmosphere for everyone. We need to be one team."

Beca looked at her. She wanted to refuse, but knew that it was a lost cause. She just nodded, indicating that she wasn't going to stop Chloe, and continued packing her bag. She felt Chloe's hand on her back for a moment, before she ran away to catch up with Aubrey. She didn't have much faith in the cause anymore. Chloe had tried to talk to Aubrey several times during the last few weeks. Beca had even tried again, but Aubrey had just thrown the door in her face. Apparently the blonde felt like she had said everything she wanted.

Chloe hadn't given up, and probably wouldn't. Beca knew that Chloe felt like this was too important. For one, the team wouldn't function as well if Beca and Aubrey couldn't work together. This might not only compensate their chances of winning, but also Chloe's own chances of getting into the national team. However, that was not even the most important reason Chloe wanted Beca and Aubrey to get along. She saw the effect the feud was having on both her girlfriend and her best friend, and knew they would both feel better if this was resolved. She was just unfortunate to be surrounded by two of the most stubborn people in the world.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Loads of Bechloe ahead!**

* * *

By the time their first match of the competition came around, everybody was whipped back into shape by Aubrey. The coaches were very pleased with the way the team had been playing. Their last match of before the winter was long forgotten and everybody was hyped for the second half of their season. Their first few matches were against some of the lower placed teams, so they would be able to build up slowly and prepare for the harder matches. Aubrey repeatedly warned them to not underestimate any opponent though, they had to approach these matches just like any other.

The coaches weren't giving Beca much pitch time during the first few matches and she couldn't shake the feeling that this was mostly Aubrey's doing. She sucked it up and tried to keep a straight face while sitting on the bench. She cheered for her team when they scored and complimented them when they returned to the bench. However, after every match she didn't feel like she had done much work and felt restless and anxious. She started exercising more outside of practice, especially on the weekend, to compensate for this, but it just didn't feel the same.

The relationship between Beca and Aubrey hadn't changed, even though Chloe had tried to talk to the both of them. Beca wasn't keen on trying to apologize to Aubrey again, she feared that it would end badly and cause more harm. Aubrey wouldn't talk to Beca either, her reasoning being that Beca would just lie to her again. Chloe was unfortunately caught in the middle.

The tension between Beca and Aubrey meant that Chloe couldn't invite Beca over to her place, and even if she did, Beca would refuse. Since Beca was still roomed with Kimmy Jin, hanging out at Beca's wasn't ideal either. Consequently the time they had together between studying, training and working, was spend in public places. Chloe and Beca both felt the strain on their relationship. It just wasn't as easy to talk freely in the library or outside on a bench where everybody could listen in. Even though Beca had been awarded some solo shifts in the radio station they couldn't talk there either, since juggling a radio show and a conversation was easier said than done.

By now their relationship had diminished to hasty kisses and superficial conversations. Both girls didn't like the way this was going and Chloe decided to take matters in her own hands a few weeks into the spring season. After the game on Sunday Beca didn't have a shift and both girls had the evening off. Since meeting in either dorm room wasn't an option, Chloe planned a date for the both of them. This would give them the opportunity to spend some quality time together and actually talk to each other.

Beca was surprised when Chloe proposed her idea, but also agreed that they needed some quality time together. She herself was extremely stressed, keeping her grades up was hard enough if she didn't have to step onto the field four times a week. The situation with Aubrey was also getting on her nerves, since the blonde had been pushing her extra hard each practice. Admittedly, she had noticed the improvement in herself, but dealing with Aubrey's bossy attitude left her mentally exhausted.

* * *

The game on Sunday went really well, they crushed their opponents, one of the lower placed teams, and everybody felt ready for the first true competition they would face next week. Everybody except for Beca. She had been allowed to play only twenty minutes this match and had a hard time finding her rhythm in the little time she was allowed on the pitch. She hadn't taken a penalty corner in a match since before the winter. She was also not too confident that she would be able to play more the next match, since Aubrey was still not really talking to her, and the coaches still shot her disappointed glances from time to time.

"I'll pick you up at six," Chloe said to her when they got back to campus. Beca nodded and made her way to her own dorm room. She didn't feel tired at all, at least not physically. When she got to her room and sat down on her bed she felt restless. The only remedy she knew for this was playing hockey, but that wasn't really an option right now. Instead, she decided to put on her running gear and go out for a run. She checked the time and saw that she still had almost two hours before Chloe would arrive, so she could do at least six miles and still have time to shower and get ready.

Running felt good. Beca was pushing hard and knew she was running faster than her usual pace. She didn't know exactly how long or far she had ran, but after a while she decided it would be time to turn around. The way back was harder, but Beca always tried to run the second half of her runs faster than the first. She was panting by the time she arrived back at her dorm room and checked her phone.

"Shit," she exclaimed before running inside. She had ran more than 10 miles and only had fifteen minutes left until Chloe would arrive. She moved as quickly as she could, gathering all her stuff and bolted towards the showers. She was wearing nothing but a towel and was looking at her closet deciding what to wear when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in, it's open," she called. She saw Chloe enter in her peripheral. She turned around to look at her briefly, but was captured by what she saw. Chloe was wearing a little black dress that was hugging her figure. Tanned, athletic legs showed underneath it. How the girl managed to get them evenly tanned while playing hockey, Beca didn't know, but she looked amazing. Chloe was looking at her with a mix of irritation and amusement.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up, I'll be ready in five minutes," Beca told her. Chloe still wasn't looking to happy.

"You look beautiful," Beca now said. The smile she shot her girlfriend was met by an even bigger smile, and the irritation had vanished from Chloe's face. Now just the amusement was left.

"So, were you planning on going to come to dinner with me in a towel?" Chloe asked her, one eyebrow raised. She moved closer to Beca and put her hands around the girl. She looked over the brunette's shoulder at the different items of clothing in front of her. Her eyes fell on a classy black sleeveless blouse. She pulled it out and found matching skinny jeans. Beca took the items from her, nodded approvingly and started to get dressed. When she was done, she rummaged around a drawer until she pulled out a necklace that fit her outfit. She finished it off with a pair of black boots. She quickly made her way to the mirror to put on some make-up, before turning around.

"You look nice," Chloe said with a smile. She took her girlfriend's hand and led her outside. Chloe had picked out a nice little Italian restaurant just off campus. It was visited by a lot of students due to the atmosphere and the prices. It wasn't too classy, but just right. They sat at a table in the corner. After the waitress had taken their orders, silence fell. Chloe was the first to break it.

"So, how are your classes going?" She knew it was a lame question, but she didn't really know what else to talk about, and it was better than nothing, at least they were having a conversation now. After a while the question was bounced back to her and she found herself speaking about a weird teacher she had at the moment. Before she knew it, they were laughing and talking more freely than they had in weeks. It felt nice to finally have some time together again.

* * *

By the end of their meal both girls were feeling relaxed and at ease. Chloe decided that this would be a good time to ask Beca a question she had been meaning to ask her for a while now. She actually invited her girlfriend over to dinner partially for this cause.

"So, do you know what you are going to do next year?" she asked in small voice. Immediately she saw the change in Beca. The girl clenched her jaws, her body tensed and her eyes fell. She remained silent for a while before she looked up. Chloe hadn't expected to see the anger in her eyes. She immediately regretted asking the question, but knew deep down that they needed to discuss this. They hadn't talked about it since their fight.

"You know what I want to do," Beca said simply. She stared straight into Chloe's eyes, until her girlfriend averted her eyes. She looked down at the stray piece of lettuce still lying on her plate. Chloe didn't say anything.

"I don't expect my father to take me seriously, but it would be nice if you did." There, she said it. Beca has had more than enough of everybody doubting her. Her father had asked her about her plans more than once over winter break. Each time the tone was patronizing, revealing that he still thought it was just a naive dream. He couldn't break his promise as long as Beca kept playing hockey, so she luckily had that on him.

Chloe looked up at her and didn't avert her gaze this time. She thought about what she wanted to say for a moment before speaking.

"I am taking you seriously. I was just hoping that there would be an alternative. I am not asking you to stay here for me, I am just asking you to consider your options. You are young, you have the whole world at your feet. I get that you dreamed about going to LA for a long time. I am asking you to look into other options."

"Look Chloe, I love you, but you're right, I am still young and it would foolish for me to stay here just for you," Beca replied. Chloe seemed to be prepared for this response, since she didn't need any time to formulate her answer.

"Beca, although I do have very selfish reasons, I am not just saying this for myself. When I look at you, I see so much talent and potential. I know you have a hard time keeping your grades up, but that may be due to the fact that you are not really engaged in what you are studying. You are smart. You are an amazing DJ, I would know, because I listen to all your shows, yes, even the late night ones. You also have amazing potential as a hockey player. If you keep training like this, you could easily make it into the national team next year. In LA you would probably get the opportunity to produce music, but maybe you could take a few years exploring your other talents first."

Beca looked at Chloe. She hadn't expected this. She assumed that Chloe would use the same arguments her father had used, patronizing her choice. She had done exactly the opposite. She showed that she actually respected Beca's dreams, but was still looking out for her best interest as well. As she realized this, the guilt kicked in. While Chloe had thought about their future together, Beca had just been thinking about herself. Tears started welling up in her eyes. Chloe looked extremely anxious, worried that she had said the wrong thing.

"I love you so much," Beca finally said. "You're right. I have been self-obsessed, I'm so sorry!"

Chloe got up and walked around their table, crouched next to her girlfriend and put a hand in her lap. "I love you too. I know it is hard to figure out what you want. It is even harder to have figured it out and have everybody tell you that it is never going to happen."

Beca nodded and looked into bright blue eyes. "I never asked you what your plans are for next year."

Chloe nodded, gave Beca a quick kiss and returned to her side of the table. "I got offered a place in the graduate program."

"That's amazing, congratulations," Beca replied, while taking Chloe's hand in hers.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to take it. My dream is to play for Team USA. I want to give it one more shot next year. I know what I need to work on, and I feel that if I work hard I might have a shot. And if I don't make it, at least I will know that I gave it my everything."

Beca nodded, but didn't know what to say. She was confident her girlfriend would be good enough and she was going to do everything she could to help her get there.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: So... It turns out studying in another country takes up more time than expected. Don't worry though, I'll keep updating, slow and steady!**

* * *

The next week Beca thought a lot about what Chloe had said. Of course she was right, Beca had been set on going to LA for years. She hadn't even considered exploring her other talents. And although she was not as convinced of her academic skills, she was curious how far she could go in playing hockey. Maybe Chloe was right and if she set her mind to it, she might make it into the national team. She still wanted to produce music, but after looking around she found that there were plenty internships opportunities close to Barden. She also looked into the classes offered at Barden and actually found some that were interesting. She was still not ready to completely give up her dreams of LA, but was starting to see her other options.

Meanwhile, the team was preparing for their next match. Everybody was anxious yet excited, the last time they played this team it was a very close game. They wanted to send a message to all of their future opponents that they belonged at the top of the tables. Beca wanted this just as much, but she didn't expect that she would be able to actually contribute during the game.

As she expected she was put on the bench at the start of the game. She saw her teammates come and go, but the coach never called her over to be put into the field. With just a few minutes left before halftime she had already put on her training jacket, and was trying to keep her muscles warm. The match was very close, as it had been last time, and both teams had had some chances, but the score was still tied at 0-0. Aubrey had missed two penalty corners in the first half, which annoyed Beca, because she was sure that she would have been able to score.

When the half time whistle sounded the Barden team made their way to the changing rooms for the half times speeches of the coaches and captains. Coach Smith was the first to talk to his girls, but he didn't have much refreshing insides to bring to the table. Aubrey was up next and was praising the defense and told the team to keep doing what they were doing. Beca might have said something, had Aubrey not already been pissed of at her, but she decided against it. She didn't want Aubrey to hate her even more.

The second half started and Beca was back on the bench. She felt her body cooling down and was just about to put on her track pants when Dawson called her over. She was told to start warming up on the sideline and get ready to be put in. After she had ran her drills by the sideline, she grabbed her stick, mouthguard and glove and walked towards the midline. Before she reached it, she was called to the side by Dawson.

"Listen Mitchell, I don't like it that you are planning to leave after this season. I don't like it that we have to train a new freshman all over next year to take your spot. Aubrey is pissed off and wants you off the team, but we need you too much for that. I get it if your morale is low, but I'm asking you to go out there and prove everybody that you are the best player on this team. We all want to win today and we need you to help us with that."

Beca was dumbfounded but grateful for the speech from her assistant coach. Dawson was right, she wasn't motivated at all, the only thing that still made her want to win this game was the inevitable smile on her girlfriend's face if they won. There were only ten minutes left for Beca to win this game for her team and she was going to do just that.

The moment she was substituted she saw Aubrey's expression change for the worse, she was obviously still not glad to have Beca playing. Beca shook it off and set up in the field. They currently had a free out. Aubrey didn't have much options at the moment, so Beca starting running to create gaps in the defense. She caught the attention of the central midfielder of the opposition, which freed up Chloe in midfield. Chloe received the ball and turned around. Beca ran along to sideline to give Chloe a passing option. She received the ball and cut inside. She saw Lilly ready to receive the ball in the circle and made the pass, but before the ball reached its target, it found a foot in the circle. The whistle was blown and the umpire pointed two hands at the goal to indicate the penalty corner.

Barden set up at the top of the circle. Aubrey seemed reluctant to let Beca take the shot, but didn't want to ignore the instructions shouted from the sideline. They assumed their usual set-up at the top of the circle. Chloe injected and Stacie stopped. Beca felt the ball on her stick, but somehow it wasn't comfortable. She couldn't give the ball a lot of momentum and it slid off her stick. One of the defenders picked up the ball before it was anywhere near the goal and walked away with it, getting the foul in the process. Barden immediately set up for defense.

The following few minutes the ball didn't make it into either circle. Both teams were fighting as hard as they could to secure the win. With just two minutes to play, Barden finally got another circle penetration, which resulted in another penalty corner. They gathered at the top of the circle and waited for Aubrey to instruct them.

"Are you able to handle this one?" Aubrey asked Beca in a harsh tone. Beca looked at her for a moment before hearing Chloe answer for her. "Yeah Aubrey, she's got this." Aubrey nodded and everybody set up, but Chloe pulled Beca aside.

"Becs, forget everything else. Just focus on this one goal, okay? I know you can do this."

Beca locked eyes with her girlfriend and nodded. She had let things with Aubrey and the coaches get to her the last time. This time there was nothing but the ball, her stick and the goal. She turned her stick around a few times before getting in position a few steps behind Stacie. She saw Chloe inject and she started her movement. As soon as she felt the ball on her stick she knew this was going to be a good one. She released the ball and it flew towards goal. She heard the sound of metal and looked up, fearing she had hit the post. As she looked up she saw her teammates cheering and saw that the ball had in fact gone into the goal and hit the back post.

Beca was allowed to play the remaining two minutes in this game, and she finally felt like she belonged again. She hadn't felt this good about playing hockey since before the winter break. Barden had broken any resistance by scoring the late goal and their opponents didn't break through midfield in the remaining time. When the final whistle blew, Beca stepped off the field with a smile. She received compliments from her teammates and even from the coaches.

* * *

After her shower she walked to her dorm together with Chloe to drop off their bags. They agreed to get pancakes after the game, so a while later they entered Chloe's favorite place. Beca knew Chloe's order by now, so she ordered for the both of them when the waiter came around. Chloe looked at her with a big grin on her face.

"What?" Beca asked.

"You were amazing today. I know it must be hard for you to sit on the sideline most of the game, but you really stepped up those last few minutes. That championship is going to be ours!"

Beca now sported a big grin as well. She loved seeing Chloe this happy, especially if she was the cause of it. This one moment everything became clear. She couldn't leave the girl behind. She couldn't just walk away from her team. She had so many opportunities in Barden, there was no necessity to run off to LA.

"I'm going to stay next year," she said. Chloe looked at her surprised, but before she could say anything Beca stopped her. "You got me thinking. I want to keep playing hockey, I want to keep being near you and I can do both those things here in Barden, and I can still mix here and work at the station. There is no hurry for me to get out of here, I can always move to LA later if I still want to."

Chloe's grin became even wider, if that was possible. She stood up and tackled her girlfriend in a big hug. She stayed like that until their food arrived. When she was back at her side of the table she kept looking at Beca.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to let Aubrey know that as soon as possible. She was extremely pissed, as you noticed, and it would make things a whole lot easier."

Beca nodded and swallowed. She wasn't to thrilled to talk to Aubrey, even though she was bringing good news. That woman was seriously scary, but she knew this was important to Chloe, so she would suck it up. What was the worst that good happen?

* * *

Beca was standing next to Chloe in front of the apartment the redhead shared with Aubrey. Beca was nervous and it showed, she couldn't keep her hands still for a moment and kept looking down the hallway to the stairs. Chloe kept her hand on her back and rubbed circles in an attempt to calm the brunette down.

Chloe opened the door and Beca's hope that Aubrey might not be home dissipated when she was a head of blonde hair. Aubrey didn't turn around when she heard the door as she was watching something on her computer, but greeted Chloe instead.

"Hey Aubrey," Beca said now to make her presence known. This made Aubrey shot up and turn around. She crossed her arms and her face hardened.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. Before Beca could say anything Chloe tried to defuse the situation. She walked towards the blonde and pushed her back down onto the couch. She sat down next to her best friend and then gestured for Beca to sit down as well.

"Beca is here because she needs to tell you something," Chloe said before she turned towards Beca, encouraging her to start talking.

"I think I should start to say I'm sorry for everything that has happened." Beca started when everybody was seated. "What I did wasn't cool. However, since then things have changed. I realized that I love playing hockey and I don't want to stop playing. Chloe made me see that I have so many more options than just running off to LA. That's why I decided that I will stay at Barden and finish my education. That way I can be closer to Chloe, keep playing hockey and even get a degree."

Aubrey looked at her incredulously. Beca didn't really know what she expected her captain to say. Everyone was silent for a long time. Beca didn't even dare to breathe too loudly. Finally Chloe turned to Aubrey.

"Aubrey," she started, but she was immediately interrupted by Aubrey, who shot up from the couch.

"You couldn't have gotten your head out off your ass earlier? First you lie to me, then you decide that you don't want to stay next year, and now you are staying? How do I know you are really going to stay and not just saying it so I will stop being mad at you?"

At this, Chloe stood up as well and grabbed Aubrey.

"Aubrey, calm down, Beca is not trying to trick you. You know as well as I how hard it is to decide what you want to do after college. Beca did and she hadn't looked at her other options because of that. Now she sees that there are more ways to get to where she wants to be. She means it when she says she is going to stay. Please just give her one more change."

Aubrey looked at Chloe for a while before nodding slowly. "If you believe her, I will as well, I trust you, Chloe. I know I haven't been the most supportive best friend lately, I'm sorry."

Chloe hugged her best friend. Just now Beca realized how hard this must have been on their friendship. She smiled when she saw her girlfriend relax into the arms of her best friend.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: This one is a bit shorter, but this seemed the best place to stop. Thank you to everybody that has been sending me messages, you guys are awesome!**

* * *

Although Aubrey was still being hard on Beca, things slowly turned back to normal. Beca had talked to the coaches, something she dreaded but Chloe helped her through, and she hadn't seen much of the bench lately. They trained harder than ever, since the end of the season was rapidly approaching. They kept their winning streak going for the next fews weeks, but had some of the harder games to go. Aubrey became more tightly wound by the minute and Chloe spend about as much time calming her down as she spend time with Beca. This frustrated the brunette, but she got how much Aubrey needed her best friend.

Beca wasn't too calm herself. She was stressed about keeping her grades up, but having to play Naomi's team soon wasn't doing her much good either. Chloe had urged her to talk to her dad as well regarding her plans for the next year, and although she was reluctant, she had agreed to have dinner with her dad and Chloe. Having Chloe there would keep her calm and she would get the chance to formally introduce her to her father.

She was also still running shifts at the radio station, but working with music calmed her down and it actually helped to keep her losing her mind. From time to time Jesse would join her and they would talk music and hockey. She had been neglecting her friendship with Jesse while trying to make things up with Chloe, Aubrey and the team and was trying to be a better friend. She genuinely liked talking to him, even though he talked too much about movies.

Jesse's team had had a really good season as well. Jesse was one of the least passed keepers in the league. He was anxious about the next few weeks, because if they kept playing well, they might place for the championship as well. This would be mean a shot at the double championship for Barden. Beca had offered to help him out on the field and in turn he helped her with her course work.

* * *

Beca was supposed to pick Chloe up and they would walk to her father's house together for dinner. She arrived early at Chloe's and rang the doorbell. Aubrey opened the door and let her in. The blonde returned to her room while Beca walked towards her girlfriend's door. When she opened it, she saw Chloe in her sweatpants and bra staring at a variety of outfits that were laid out on her bed. Beca stood in the doorpost for a while and studied her girlfriend. She saw that the redhead looked nervous, maybe more nervous than she had ever seen her.

She walked up to Chloe and slid her arms around her waist. She felt soft, warm skin under her fingertips and lightly caressed the redhead's abs with her thumb. Chloe leaned back into her and let out a breath.

"Babe, is everything okay?" Beca enquired. Chloe turned around and looked at Beca with worry in her eyes.

"What if he doesn't like me?" she asked her girlfriend. Beca let out a laugh, thinking Chloe was kidding. When she realized the redhead was dead serious, she put her hands on Chloe's shoulders and looked into her big, beautiful, blue eyes.

"Chlo, are you kidding me? Everybody likes you. I think he would like anyone who would make me go to my lectures and pass my classes. And even if he doesn't like you, which will not be the case, I don't care, I like you. That is all that matters."

Chloe nodded and turned around to look at her outfits once more. She still wasn't sure what to wear, she wanted to impress the man but not give him a wrong impression. Beca moved from behind her, studied the outfits for a moment and then pointed at black blouse with a striped silver skirt.

"I like that one, it makes you look sexy, yet sophisticated," Beca said, before picking the outfit up and giving it to Chloe.

"I don't know Becs, isn't it too much for dinner with your dad. That might me more something that I would wear when going out with the girls. I don't want your dad to get the wrong idea. I mean, first impressions are important, right? Maybe I should wear jeans, but maybe that is too casual."

At that point Beca stopped Chloe's rambling. She sat her down on the bad, squatted in front of her to be able to look her in the eyes.

"Chloe, tell me what's wrong. Why do you care so much? It's just my dad," she said in an attempt to calm her girlfriend down. Chloe took a deep breath before she explained.

"I know you don't care too much about what your dad thinks of me, but I do. Meeting the parents is a big deal for me. I only met him once, and that time I was rather rude to him, so I want to make it right this time, show him that I am good enough for his daughter."

"Of course you are good enough for me, if anything, I should be worried about not being good enough. You are amazing, nice, beautiful and smart. He will see all of these things as well, I'm sure of it. Just relax, we'll get each other through tonight."

She gave Chloe a hug and a kiss, before telling her to get dressed, since they were going to be late otherwise. Soon enough Chloe was dressed and applying her makeup. Beca couldn't help but feel the nerves build up now as well, but they disappeared when Chloe stepped out of the bathroom. She looked amazing, her red hair in flowing curls, eyes shining. Her outfit showed her beautifully toned arms and accentuated all the right areas. Beca's breath was taking for a moment and she realized how lucky she was with such an amazing girlfriend.

* * *

As they walked up towards the house, both of them were a bundle of nerves. While gripping Chloe's hand with one hand, Beca rang the doorbell with the other. Soon enough her father opened the door and extend his hand to shake Chloe's.

"Hello Chloe, it's nice to finally meet one of Beca's friends," he said before releasing her hand.

Beca decided that it was best to just come out with it right away. "Chloe is my girlfriend, dad. I'm dating her."

Dr. Mitchell's eyebrows shot up, but he regained his composure soon enough and stuttered a "Oh, that's nice" before allowing both girls inside.

The rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful. Chloe was a master at small talk, so to Beca's delight she didn't have to interact too much with her father. He seemed to like her girlfriend more by the minute and Chloe started to relax more throughout the evening. When they were almost finished with eating, the conversation was steered towards hockey. Beca decided to use this to address the topic she actually wanted to talk to her dad about.

"Um, dad, I actually had an alternative motive for having dinner with you. I wanted to tell you something." Her father looked at her skeptically, but Chloe put a hand on knee, which calmed her down. "I have been thinking a lot more about my future, with Chloe's help. I have decided to stay a Barden a while longer. Here I can play hockey, I can work on my music and I want to get a degree."

Her father looked at her, then turned towards Chloe and back to Beca. He seemed to be looking for some sign of deceit, but when he didn't, he got up and rounded the table. He pulled Beca up from her chair and into a hug. Beca wasn't expecting this, as she had never been remotely close with her dad, but she returned the hug nonetheless. Her father released her soon enough.

"Honey, that's great! And thank you Chloe for helping my daughter," he said before he walked back towards his chair with a content smile. "And Beca, if you need any help or if you want to talk, you can always come to me, you know that right? I know I haven't been the best father, but I would like to be there for you know."

Beca nodded. She had expected this to be more awkward and was relieved, so she too was sporting a smile. Chloe liked the look of her favorite person being happy and she was glad she made a good impression, so too was smiling. For a while everybody was lost in thoughts, before dr. Mitchell cleared his throat.

"Um Beca, would it be okay for me to come to the rest of your games. I have been trying to give you a bit of space, but I love to see you play and I would love to come and cheer you on."

Beca's affirmative answer seemed to make him the happiest person in the world. The good atmosphere continued for the rest of the evening. When Beca and Chloe started to leave, he gave both of the girls a big hug. As they walked away Chloe caught Beca's eyes and smiled at her. Beca grabbed her girlfriend's hand in response and smiled back.

"That went well."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: I know I keep saying this, but you guys really are awesome!**

* * *

With all other distractions out of the way, Beca could focus on the upcoming match against Naomi's team. Barden was almost sure of their spot in the championship game, but they had some personal business to take care of. Beca talked to Chloe, and even Aubrey, in the week before the game, but still she was nervous. She didn't want to get distracted again and allow Naomi to get in her head. She just needed to focus on her own game, on her own team.

Luckily this time Barden was playing on their home turf and the extra support would do them good. Jesse had promised that he would be cheering at the sidelines and Beca's father would show his support as well. This might even make Beca more nervous, but she was grateful nevertheless.

The night before the big game Beca slept at Chloe's place. The redhead had convinced her that it would help with the nerves. After Aubrey gave her consent, Beca had happily obliged. After she woke up snuggled in Chloe's embrace, she looked at her phone to check the time. It was early enough to still be sleeping, but she knew she would not be able to. She slowly crawled out of Chloe's arms as silent as possible and made her way to the kitchen. For some reason she was not surprised to see Chloe's roommate sitting there.

"Good morning," she greeted. She walked straight to the coffee pot on the counter and helped herself to a cup. She turned around and Aubrey gestured for her to take a seat across from her.

"Good morning, how are you?" Aubrey asked her. In response, Beca shrugged. She didn't really know how she felt. She felt nervous for having to face Naomi today, but she also felt angry at the girl for everything she had done, and motivated to kick her ass.

"You shouldn't worry too much, if that girl comes anywhere near you, she will have to deal with the entire team, including me. And you know how terrifying I can be.

Beca smiled and nodded, she knew that alright, she had been on the receiving end of Aubrey's wrath for a long time.

"Thank you. I thought you hated me," she said slightly confused at Aubrey's protective tone.

"I don't hate you. I don't like how you handled a lot of things this year. I don't like that you hurt my best friend and I don't like that you lied to me and the entire team. But you make Chloe happy and you make this team better, so I guess you're not too bad. And you're my teammate, so that means I stick up for you."

"Thanks," Beca said shyly.

"You guys should hug it out," Chloe said as she walked into the room. Both Aubrey and Beca looked up at her and simultaneously shook their head. Chloe raised one eyebrow and walked towards the counter. "I'm just saying, you guys love each other, just admit it and hug it out."

"I don't think this is a good time. I need to get ready, I want to be on the field early," Aubrey said before she made her way to her bedroom.

Chloe sat down besides Beca and kissed her on the cheek. She then ran a hand over her back and pulled her towards her. Beca rested her head on Chloe's shoulder and sighed. This was perfect, her girlfriend was perfect. She felt calm, there was nothing Naomi could do to take this from her. Win or lose, her girlfriend was still going to be here.

They sat like that in silence until Aubrey emerged from her bedroom wearing her track suit and had her big stick bag slung over her shoulder. She looked at the girls before walking towards the door.

"Don't be late, Chloe, we have the pre-game meeting in less than an hour, you should get ready," she shouted before closing the door behind her. As on cue, both girls got up and started their game day routines. They quickly ate breakfast, got dressed and packed their bags before they got on their way. Although Beca wasn't required to be on the field for another hour, she prefered getting ready with Chloe and was planning to use the time to get some penalty corners in.

In what felt like just a few minutes, Chloe, Aubrey and the coaches arrived at the field. Soon her other teammates were starting to show up as well. Before the other team showed up, all of them made their way to the dressing room to discuss the game plan. Aubrey actually had some good pointers this time and Chloe managed to get everybody pumped for the game. They were all excited to get out there and win this game.

When they stepped out onto the field, Beca immediately saw the familiar brown hair and slender frame near the other dugout. She took a deep breath and turned towards her stick bag. She saw Chloe look over as well from besides her. Her girlfriend looked furious and laid a protective hand on Beca's shoulder. They didn't say anything and they didn't have to, both girls knew what they needed to do.

Beca managed to focus on her own team at warming up this time, which made Aubrey pleasantly surprised. It earned her a starting spot in the field. She lined up on her familiar spot next to Chloe in the field and got ready for the starting signal. She saw Naomi opposite her in midfield. Chloe would be her direct opponent for now. She looked angry, almost menacing, Beca just couldn't understand what the girl's problem was. But that was none of her worries now, she just needed to focus and everything would be alright.

When the game was underway, she did just that. She didn't miss a pass or tackle. Although it was a hard fight, Barden had the upperhand. They had more possession and more circle penetration. They had to wait until halfway deep into the first half for the first real chance, though.

Chloe bypassed Naomi and managed to run into the circle. She was about to shoot the ball, when she was bodychecked from behind. Their entire audience started booing. Naomi had ran the tackleback, but couldn't make it back in time to make a clean tackle, so she just ran straight into Chloe. Chloe fell down onto the turf and the whistle was quickly blown. Barden was awarded a penalty stroke and the culprit got a yellow card. Both Aubrey and Beca made their way over to the redhead, but when they reached her, she was already sitting up. She smiled at both of them and ensured them she was fine.

After a short discussion, it was decided that Beca would take the penalty stroke. Beca didn't hesitate and shot the ball hard into the net. With one extra man, Barden dominated the rest of the first half. Stacie put another one away right before the halftime whistle, so they went into halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

The halftimes speeches were positive and everybody was eager to get out there again. Chloe hadn't made her reappearance in the first half, so when the team made their way back to the field, Beca stopped her to make sure that her girlfriend was okay.

"I'm fine, really, I was just a bit shaken up. Don't worry about me, just focus on the game," Chloe told her and Beca nodded. She pulled her girlfriend in for a hug, which turned into a kiss.

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. "You always ruin everything for me," a familiar voice said.

"I think it's time we leave," Beca said just loud enough for Chloe to hear her. She took her hand and made her way to the door. Before she got there, she was stopped.

"You're not going anywhere. You ruined my life. I made captain, I was supposed to be in the spotlight, but you just decide to go ahead and take that from me. Do you know how hard I worked for that? And then you disappeared and we lost the championship game. And now you show up here and do it all over again. Congratulations, you did it, you got me suspended. My coach said it is my fault that we're behind and he benched me for the rest of the game. And it's all your fault"

At that point Naomi stepped forward with a dangerous aggressive look in her eyes. Instinctively Beca tried to get out of her way, but the brunette kept coming at her. She seemed like she would be ready to kill her. Beca looked at the door, but Naomi had that way blocked. She suddenly felt herself being pushed back and fiery red hair appeared in front of her. Just at that moment Naomi threw a punch and hit Chloe hard in the face. She fell sideways and slammed her shoulder into the bench.

The door swung open and Aubrey stormed into the dressing rooms. She was followed closely by Dawson, who ran forward and grabbed the raging brunnette. Naomi tried to fight free, but couldn't do a thing against Dawson. The coach dragged her out of the room, while Aubrey and Beca both tended to Chloe.

Chloe's cheek had sprung open as a result of the blow, but she wasn't too concerned with that. She was holding her shoulder and was grimacing in pain. Beca and Aubrey helped her to get up from the floor and sit on the bench. Both didn't know what to do, but they tried to console her best they could.

Not before long, Dawson made her way back into the room with a first aid kit. She crouched down in front of Chloe and started to clean the gap on her cheek and covered it before attending to her shoulder. She pressed on the shoulder at different points and moved the arm in all directions. The shoulder didn't seem to be dislocated, but it was very tender. Dawson wanted to take Chloe to the hospital to be sure, but Chloe didn't want to leave if the match was still going to be played.

Dawson left to talk to the coaches from both teams. After she left the room, their team entered. All of them started talking at once, most of them enquiring about Chloe's well being, but Beca could swear that she heard at least one or two threats to harm Naomi in between. Chloe ensured them she was fine and everybody slowly started to calm down. They sat down around the room. Everybody went silent and waited.

When Dawson and Coach Smith entered they looked up with a questioning look.

"We talked to the coach from the other team, they have agreed to suspend the player responsible and we will file an official complaint against her. She will most likely also face an academic suspension and will not be allowed near a hockey field anytime soon."

This was met with cheers and a loud 'Suck it!' from Fat Amy. It took the coaches a while to calm them down again.

"We do have to finish the game now. I get it if you're all still a bit shaken up, but it would be really hard to pick another date before the end of the season. Try to calm down a bit, we start in ten minutes."

One by one the girls returned to the field, until just Chloe, Aubrey and Beca were left. Aubrey looked at her watch and stood up. She warned Beca to be there in a minute and left the two girls alone.

"I'm so sorry," Beca started, but she was interrupted by Chloe.

"Don't even start, this is not your fault. I can't believe she accused you of ruining her life and then tried to hurt you. She's insane, none of this is your fault, okay. So don't feel bad for me or for yourself."

"Thank you," Beca said softly. She pulled her girlfriend into a hug, making sure she didn't apply any pressure to the hurt shoulder. "We should get back out there."

Early in the second half it was clear that Barden was missing a valuable force. Beca took over Chloe's position in midfield, but without good wing players, she just couldn't get the ball to their forwards. Aubrey wasn't screaming instructions like she normally did and passes didn't connect. They were fighting, but they couldn't stop their opponents from breaking into their circle again and again.

They stepped off the field with a loss eventually, but everybody seemed to have something else on their mind. They all made their way to the showers in silence. While the other girls watched the men's game, Chloe was taken to the hospital for a checkup. She wasn't an emergency case, so she sat in the waiting room flanked by Aubrey, Beca and Dawson for a long time before she was called in. As they had already feared, Chloe was advised not to play hockey for at least the next four weeks.

Beca and Aubrey looked at each other while they both consoled a devastated Chloe. They knew they had to come up with some kind of plan to win without their favorite redhead, and fast.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: We are nearing the end. Hope you guys are still with me ;)**

* * *

Beca now knew what Chloe meant when she said hockey was her life. Chloe seemed to slowly go crazy. Since she couldn't play, she resorted to other tasks within the team. She helped Aubrey with training the girls, watched recordings of other teams and assisted the coaches wherever she could. They had two more games in the regular season before the playoffs would start and they needed to beat both teams in order to get the home advantage.

Without Chloe the team was at a loss. They just didn't have enough strong midfielders to compensate for missing one of the most important players on the team. Aubrey tried to coach best she could, but nothing seemed to work. They were lucky their first opponent they faced weren't too strong, so their individual skills were enough to score some goals early on, but their opponents adjusted well in the second half. Barden's defense was a mess. Long passes through midfield were allowed too often and they faced a lot of circle penetrations. Cynthia-Rose was their saviour in the end, but this game was way too close for their likings.

After the game Aubrey didn't seem like herself. They had had bad games before, she had been mad before, but she wasn't yelling at anyone currently. The blonde silently packed her bags as quickly as she could and made her way to the showers. Beca walked up to her girlfriend to give her a kiss.

"Is everything OK with Aubrey, she isn't yelling at me, it's scary," Beca said. Chloe looked in the direction Aubrey had walked.

"I know, but I think she just needs some space right now. I will try to talk to her later."

Beca nodded and followed her team to the showers. She wanted to help, but feared that anything she said would put Aubrey even more on edge. She didn't want to do that to the blonde. She had actually grown to tolerate, maybe even like the girl.

Beca was the last out of the showers and walked back towards the canteen where all the girls were sitting. On her way over she heard a weird noise, so instead of taking a right turn, she made a left turn towards the sound. There, behind the changing rooms, she saw Aubrey standing hunched over with one hand resting on the wall. She was breathing heavily, so Beca ran over. She put her hand on Aubrey's back and tried to rub it soothingly.

"Thanks Chloe," Aubrey said before looking up. When she did and saw brown hair instead of red, her eyes grew wide. "Oh, it's you, I'm sorry. You really don't need to be here, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," Beca responded. "I'm not just going to leave you, you're my teammate, so I look out for you, remember?"

Before Aubrey could respond, she had to face to ground again, because she started dry heaving. Beca started rubbing her back again. She wasn't good at comforting or talking, but she wasn't going to leave Aubrey alone either.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she tried. Aubrey shook her head slightly while still leaning against the building. She was still not breathing at a normal pace and her face was pale. Aubrey told her that she was fine, but Beca wasn't buying it.

"Aubrey, you're clearly not fine, just talk to me. I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but we need to work together to win this thing. We have got three more weeks to prepare and win the championship."

At the mention of the championship Aubrey turned even more pale. She stared at Beca and didn't say anything or move even a single muscle. She then closed her eyes and started breathing in a pattern. Slowly the colour returned to her face and her breathing slowed down a bit.

"Do you really think we can still win," she asked in a voice uncharacteristically small for her.

Beca nodded. "Of course we can, we just need to approach some things differently. We can't keep using the same strategy and hope that we can compensate for Chloe's absence. We need to look at everybody's strengths and make them work for us. We need to assess the opponent's weak points and hit them where it hurts. If we do that, I have no doubt that we can win this thing."

Aubrey now managed to stand up straight. She looked thoughtful for a second. "Would you want to help me?"

Beca nodded and offered Aubrey her bottle of water. The blonde took it and while she took a sip, Beca heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see wet red curls rushing past her to Aubrey.

"Bree, are you okay? I couldn't find you and I know how you get stressed. Do you need anything, water, a hug?"

Aubrey shook her head and told Chloe that she was fine. She had water and was already starting to feel better. She returned the bottle to Beca who told her that she could keep it. Chloe turned towards her girlfriend with big eyes.

"Oh, I interrupted a bonding moment, didn't I? I'm so sorry, please ignore me," she said before starting to walk of.

"Chloe, we were not having a bonding moment, come back here," Beca said with a smile. Her girlfriend was just the cutest when she tried to get Aubrey and Beca to be friends. Chloe returned to her side and slid her hand and Beca's.

"So, what is going on here then?" she asked.

"Beca is going to help us make up a plan to win the championship, so she's coming over tonight and we are not going to rest until we have the perfect plan," Aubrey responded. Although these details were new to Beca, she had planned to come over anyway, so she nodded. Chloe lunged forward and hugged her friend before turning back to Beca and hugging her as well.

"Let's go back inside, before the team gets all worried," Beca suggested as she took her girlfriend's hand.

* * *

Beca spent the time she had before she was supposed to go over to Chloe's looking at old games from the Olympics. She knew most of these games inside out and had watched them repeatedly, but she had always watched them for pleasure, now she was watching them with a purpose. She even made notes on interesting plays she saw that they could use.

Armed with her notes and her laptop she arrived at the apartment. Chloe greeted her with a kiss and let her in. Aubrey was already sitting on the couch with a bowl of salad in her lap and drinking some kind of green liquid. Beca grimaced at the sight of the chunks in her glass.

"Don't worry, Chloe ordered pizza for you, you don't need to drink this," Aubrey said while pointing at the pizza box on the counter. Beca mouthed a thank you to Chloe as she went over to get a slice. She then settled on the couch with all her stuff spread on the table.

As Beca started explaining different strategies she wanted to try out, she noticed that Aubrey wasn't as open to her suggestions as she made it out to be after the game earlier. Every option was shot down immediately by the blonde. After a while Beca couldn't handle it anymore. She had tried to be patient, explain everything, address Aubrey's concerns, she even had notes, which means she was serious. She shut her laptop and gathered her stuff.

"If you don't want my help, you shouldn't have invited me over. Seriously Aubrey, what is your problem?" she said agitated. Chloe stood up as well and tried to sooth her and get her to sit down again. But Beca was not paying attention to her girlfriend, she was looking at the blonde. Aubrey looked like she was about to throw up and needed all her concentration to keep herself together.

Suddenly she snapped out of it. "I'm sorry, okay? It's not easy for me to give up control or to listen to some tiny, annoying person with ear monstrosities lecture me on how to run my team. I need to win this and I need to know for sure that whatever we are going to do is going to work, so yes, I have my reservations."

"Well, I can't guarantee that anything will work, but I know for sure it's better than doing what we are doing right now. We need to try new things and hope that they will work. If that is not good enough for you, I'm sorry, I can't give you anything."

At this Aubrey nodded. "I can try new things, please don't leave."

Beca nodded and sat back down. As soon as she started talking again she noticed a change in Aubrey's attitude. The blonde was actually trying to contribute instead of shoot ideas down. She had some valid concern, but between the three of them they managed to come up with some pretty good plays they could use.

Aubrey called the coaches and organized a meeting for the next day. They would present their plans to them and with their approval they could try some of the plays in the next practice. If everything would go well, Aubrey would organize a team meeting to bring the girls up to speed and they would be set for their last game before the championships.

While Aubrey was in the other room talking on the phone, Chloe snuggled into Beca's side. "You made notes. I have never seen you with notes, not even from you lectures"

"Yeah, well, I figured I would need that to convince Aubrey I was serious," Beca replied. She kissed the top of Chloe's head and gathered the notes in her lap with the hand that was not wrapped around her girlfriend.

"I like this side of you. I know you want people to think you are all badass and that you don't care about anything, but honestly, there is not a moment I have actually been convinced that you did not care. I mean, even though you claim you don't care about lectures, you still go and you study and you pass your tests. Thank you for caring about Aubrey and about the team."

Aubrey returned to the room. "We meet them tomorrow an hour before practice. Would that work for you, Beca?"

Beca looked at Aubrey in surprise. "You want me to come? Isn't this a captains and coaches kind of occasion?"

"Well, since it is mostly your plan, I think we could make an exception and make you co-captain as well, right Chloe?"

Chloe nodded and hugged her girlfriend tightly. Beca looked at Aubrey over Chloe's shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod. They could do this. If Beca and Aubrey managed to work together, anything was possible.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Sorry for keeping you waiting. Again.**

To say that the coaches were surprised to see Beca the next day was an understatement. Aubrey hadn't mentioned that the ideas were actually coming from their freshman, because she didn't know how the coaches would respond. Coach Smith had been as conservative as she was from the start and he liked her style of leading the team. He never really intervened, because he trusted her. He might not take changing the entire strategy three weeks before the playoffs so well.

"Absolutely not! Seriously Aubrey, I thought you were smarter than this. I hope you do realize how little time we have left before the playoffs, we can't just change everything now. We are going to do what we have trained to do all year."

Aubrey had been nervous before the meeting, but now her face was white as a sheet and she looked like she was about to throw up. Chloe was by her side, rubbing her back and trying to calm her down. Coach Smith had gotten his phone out and was no longer paying attention to the girls in front of him. Dawson was sitting besides him and locked eyes with Beca, who was furious. She hadn't come this far to be shot down like that.

"We are not going to win doing what we did all year. Sure, we won most of our matches, but we lost Chloe and without her your entire game plan goes down the drain. We need to look at the players we have and not just use some readymade game plan."

"I'm going to stop you there," coach Smith said, looking up at his player. "This plan has worked for four years and I'm not going to give it up now. And last I heard, you were just a freshman and are lucky to even be on this team. This is not up for discussion, I will see you girls at practice."

Beca was going to respond but was stopped by Dawson. "They have a point, Craig, what we are doing right now is not working. We just barely won last game and that was against a team that only managed to score ten goals this season. We are not just going to lose the playoffs, we are going to be humiliated if we play like this. They make some very good points and I think our girls are talented enough to pull this off."

"I am the head coach, I get the final say here. I say we continue the way we did. I will see all of you at practice, goodbye." Coach Smith had gotten up and was sternly pointing at the door. He looked furious, but Beca saw that the blonde besides her had a similar look on her face.

"In that case I am not sure if you are still the best person for the job of head coach," Aubrey said as calmly as she could muster.

"That is not how this works, young lady. I am your coach, I trained this team and you will do as I say," coach Smith responded.

"I don't think you will have much of a team left if I quit," Aubrey said. She didn't seem to sure of her case, so Beca took a step closer to her and looked her coach right in the eyes. "I'm with Aubrey, if she's not on the team, I quit too. And I don't doubt for a second that the other girls will do the exact same thing."

"You must be kidding me," coach Smith shouted now. "I thought you were supposed to be adults, but it seems like I am dealing with a bunch of children. Go one, walk out! Just know that it is the end, so don't come crawling back to me begging for a spot on the team."

Beca wanted to start shouting at her coach, but she was stopped by Dawson stepping in and leading her out of the office. Chloe followed the pair with Aubrey in her arms. Once outside, all the colour drained from Aubrey's face and she made a run for the nearby trashcan. Chloe followed her and lifted her hair out of her face.

Dawson was still holding Beca and now turned her around to face her. "You need to tell the girls what happened and they need to decide what happens next. Do you think you can get the team to the meeting room for an emergency meeting in thirty?" Beca nodded, which prompted Dawson to walk back into the office and shut the door behind her.

After sending a mass text to the team, Beca walked towards her two captains. Aubrey seemed to have calmed down a little, but she still wasn't back to her normal colour. Beca grabbed Chloe's hand. "I'm sorry I'm causing so much trouble."

"Are you kidding me?" Aubrey said now. "That was exactly what we needed. If he doesn't want to do what's best for the team then he needs to go."

Both Chloe and Beca nodded, but none of the girls were feeling to sure right now. They had expected that the coaches would have liked their initiative, but they weren't so sure their way was the best way now that coach Smith shot it down.

* * *

Thirty nerve wrecking minutes later all the girls had gathered in the meeting room. They had picked up on the fact that their captains seemed nervous, but nobody knew what was going on. As soon as everybody was inside, Chloe told everybody what had happened. The girls were shocked to hear that both Aubrey and Beca had quit, but nobody said a word. When Chloe was done with the story Aubrey took over and told the girls what the plan was they pitched to the coaches.

When Aubrey was almost finished, the door opened. Coach Smith barged in with a furious look on his face, followed by Dawson. "What the hell is going on here," he demanded.

Dawson prevented him from coming too close to the captains. "Craig, I think the team has a right to decide which way they want to go. Aubrey told them her side, now you have the opportunity to tell them yours. Then it's up to them to chose."

"It's really simple, we're at the top of the table doing what we do best. I want to continue doing that until the end of the season. There is just simply not enough time to change our strategy now. If that is what you want, I will no longer be your coach"

Beca wanted to respond, but she was stopped by Aubrey. This wasn't the time to get into another discussion, the team had heard both sides and had to decide now. Nobody dared to say anything. The girls all realized that something needed to change, but changing their strategy was a big risk to take. And it would mean losing their coach, who had led them to this point.

Minutes had passed before someone finally spoke up. In the back of the room Stacie stood up. "I'm with Aubrey." She locked eyes with the blonde and Aubrey stopped breathing for a moment. The moment was over too quickly when Fat Amy got up. "Aubrey, you may be skinny, but you have a fat heart. I'm with you." After Stacie and Amy spoke up, many followed. Aubrey was surprised to see that so many girls actually trusted her.

When each girl had individually chosen to follow Aubrey, coach Smith stormed out the door, while shouting "I quit'. He slammed the door behind him and left the girls in shock. "So, who is going to be our coach?" Cynthia Rose asked.

Aubrey turned towards Dawson, who was still standing at in the room. "Dawson, would you do us the honour to take over the head coach position?"

"Yes, of course," Dawson replied. "But only if that is okay with everybody." She looked around the room and was met with nods from the girls. Nobody had any doubts that she would make an amazing coach, she already did most of the work anyway.

"Okay girls, let's get to the field," Aubrey said, which prompted the girls to pack up their bags and walk out the room. Some of them gave Aubrey an encouraging nod as they walked by, while Fat Amy just pulled her in a big bear hug.

Stacie was still packing her bags when all the other girls were already gone. Beca pulled Aubrey aside. "You should go talk to her, tell her how you feel," she whispered in the blonde's ear. Aubrey looked shocked. "How did you know?" she asked, which earned her a knowing look from Beca.

"Dawson, do you mind if we talk about the training, I had some exercises in mind," Beca said while subtly tugging Chloe's arm. The redhead got the hint and followed her girlfriend and their coach out of the room, leaving Aubrey and Stacie behind. Before closing the door, Chloe threw an encouraging look at her friend.

* * *

A few hours later the captain trio sat in Chloe and Aubrey's apartment. Chloe had curled up in Beca's arms as soon as they sat down. The day had worn her out and the painkillers she was still taking for her shoulder weren't exactly helping. Beca felt physically tired, but her mind was racing. The training had gone better than she expected, the girls adjusted perfectly and most of them hadn't played this well the entire season. Even after everything that happened morale was up and the team started to believe they could actually win the championship.

Because they were so busy running the practice, Beca hadn't had time to ask Aubrey what happened with Stacie after they left. The blonde had been smiling the entire practice, so Beca could safely assume that it went well, but she was still curious. She studied the girl next to her. Aubrey seemed relaxed, more relaxed than Beca had ever seen her.

Feeling that she was being watched, Aubrey turned to the small brunette. "So, what happened with Stacie?" Beca asked. "I take it it went well?" Aubrey nodded. "So, tell me what happened." Aubrey took a deep breath before recounting the earlier event.

 _She hesitantly walked towards the only other girl that was still in the room. Stacie looked up at her and smiled. "You okay?" the brunette asked her. "Yes, thank you. For standing up for me." This earned her another smile. "For you, anytime," Stacie said with a wink. Aubrey's heart started racing. She might be imagining this, but it seemed that Stacie was actually flirting with her. Wait, she should say something. But what could she say?_

" _Do you want to go out with me?" Stacie asked her before she could think of anything. "What?" Aubrey said, thinking she hadn't quite heard it right. Stacie repeated her question, confirming that indeed, she had been asked out by this beautiful specimen in front of her. She had been looking at Stacie for a while before realizing she hadn't said anything yet, which was quite rude. Her mind was already screaming the answer "Yes, yes, of course!", but her mouth had other plans._

"Why, you said why?" Beca shouted. "Why would you say that? You know, normal people usually respond with a simple yes or no." Aubrey dropped her head. "I know, just let me finish."

" _Why?" was the question that came out. She saw Stacie's smile faint and knew she had said the wrong thing. How could she be so stupid, if a beautiful girl asks you out, you say yes. Especially if you have the biggest, most embarrassing crush on said girl._

" _Because you are smart and passionate and you look extremely hot when you talk game strategies," Stacie said with a nervous smile. It dawned on Aubrey that she had never seen the brunette nervous. She always seemed like an extremely confident woman, and here she was standing in front of her, looking down at her hands and tapping her foot nervously._

 _Get it together, Aubrey, this gorgeous woman just asked you out and you have still got to respond. Take one deep breath, count to three and answer her. "Yes," Aubrey said. Stacie's looked up sporting a huge grin. "Really, you'll go out with me?" she asked. "Of course I want to go out with you, you're amazing," Aubrey responded, after finally getting her shit together._

"And then we walked to practice together," Aubrey concluded her story. "That's it, you didn't kiss her?" Beca asked. "Dude, you should have kissed her, she totally wanted you to kiss her." Aubrey's face turned red and she avoided Beca's eyes. "Wait, you totally kissed her, didn't you?" Aubrey nodded and looked shyly at Beca. "Seriously Aubrey, I'm happy for you."


	28. Chapter 28

The next week was packed with practices and team meetings. When the girls weren't on the field training, they were going over plays or analyzing the footage from their previous games. Beca, Chloe, Aubrey and Dawson spend even more time together preparing for the games to come. Beca was now officially a co-captain, after the team had agreed to grant her that position. Chloe would take on the role of assistant-coach during the games, as she was unable to play.

The practices were going really well, the girls picked up the plays quickly and everybody was playing better than ever. Beca asked Jesse to come in to train Cynthia Rose, who was getting harder to beat each day. Aubrey still had some trouble with all the changes, but besides Chloe and occasionally Beca, she had found that Stacie was very good at comforting her. She hadn't been able to cash in on that date yet though, because she was too busy with hockey and school. They had met for coffee a few times though, and she found that Stacie was very easy to talk to.

Chloe had decided that after the last match of the regular season, the girls would have a party. They were already placed for playoffs, so they had something to celebrate. Aubrey agreed after Chloe told her that it would be good for team building. However, Chloe knew that her friend knew the real reason, she needed to keep herself busy to distract her from the fact that she wasn't allowed on the pitch. It was frustrating, because she was feeling fine, but Aubrey, Dawson and even Beca all argued that it was probably due to the painkillers.

Game day came and the girls were ready. Although it was only a week, they had made great progress and were in no way intimidated by their opponents. The only nervous person was probably Beca, because Aubrey had asked her to give the captain speech before the game. She was never a big public speaker, although she had been forced to make some exceptions over the course of the year.

After the warming up she joined her team in the huddle. She looked around at the girls she had grown fond and finally looked at her co-captain. Aubrey nodded, which prompted Beca to start her speech..

"Girls, I know we have only been preparing for this game for a week, but we have been playing together the entire year. Most of you have played hockey almost your entire lives. So let's show them how it's done. Trust your instinct and trust your teammates. Communicate with each other. Only one thing is more important." She locked eyes with Aubrey. "Have fun!"

Seventy minutes later Barden didn't just come out on top. They crushed their opponents. Cynthia Rose barely touched a ball and most of the game was played on the opponent's half. Dawson didn't even have to make any adjustment during half time. Everybody was ecstatic when they walked off the field.

* * *

The girls were still in good spirits when they gathered at Dawson's apartment. Beer was flowing freely and music was blasting from Beca's computer. Beca was sitting in the corner looking at the girls. She had never expected to make friends in college, let alone enough to fill an apartment. She was never the type to have a lot of friend that were girls, but it was actually pretty nice.

Aubrey emerged from the kitchen and walked towards her. "I think you should go talk to Chloe, she's in the kitchen. She says she's fine, but I'm pretty sure that's not true. She might talk to you."

Beca nodded. "Thank Aubrey, I will take care of her. You should celebrate, go dance with your girlfriend." Beca gestured towards the middle of the room where Stacie was dancing with a few of the girls. "We haven't even been on a real date, so I don't think she is really my girlfriend," Aubrey replied. "Well, then go do something about it," was Beca's answer.

She didn't wait to see if Aubrey would take her advice, but instead made her way to the kitchen. There she found Chloe frantically opening and closing cabinet doors. She stopped and looked at her girlfriend for a second before stepping in. She pulled Chloe in for a hug. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I can't find a fucking bowl to fit the snacks in," she said while waving at the bags of chips on the counter. "Where would she put them. I looked everywhere. Maybe she just doesn't have them, but what person doesn't have bowls in their kitchen. I should have brought some from home. Maybe I could go and run home to grab some."

"Wow, Chlo, slow down, talk to me," Beca said. "I just need to find some bowls, then it'll be fine," Chloe responded, careful not to make eye contact. She removed herself from Beca's grip and started opening more doors. Beca wasn't having any of it though, and she moved towards her girlfriend and forced her to look at her.

The look of worry on her face caused tears to form in Chloe's eyes. "It's just so goddamn frustrating. I want to play, but all I can do is sit on the sidelines and cheer. This is my senior year and I will not even be able to finish the season. I'm going crazy."

"You don't know that, your next checkup is before the finals, maybe you'll get cleared then. And you are very important for the team, you keep everyone happy and sane."

"But that's not enough for me,," Chloe shouted. "What if I don't get cleared. Or what if we don't make it to the finals. What if I blew my last chance to make my dream come true?" Tears were streaking down her cheeks. Beca took her girlfriend in her arms. She looked over her shoulder to see Dawson standing in the doorway with a questioning look. She nodded at her to indicate that everything was okay. Dawson exited the kitchen again, leaving Beca and Chloe behind.

Beca held on to her girlfriend until she calmed down. She pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm ruining this party for you," Chloe said quietly. "You have nothing to be sorry for, you are way more important to me than any party. And we'll figure something out, okay?"

Beca promised to take care of the snacks while Chloe freshened up in the bathroom. She looked in several cabinets, but sure enough, there were no bowls to be found. Then she remembered she saw a trick in a YouTube video once. She opened one of the bags and started rolling it from the bottom. It worked perfectly, the bags could now serve as bowls.

"When did you get so inventive?" Chloe asked her when she reentered the kitchen. She looked a bit better now, though still a little pale and very tired. Beca shrugged. "I guess I'm just awesome," she replied. Chloe chuckled and kissed her. "That you are."

They carried the snacks to the living room and were received with loud cheers. The other girls had started some sort of drinking game and were all already very drunk. Even Aubrey, who was currently sitting on Stacie's lap, seemed to have had a few beers. Cynthia Rose offered the both of them beers, but Chloe had to refuse because of her painkillers. When Beca rejected the offer as well, Chloe turned to her.

"You don't have to do that for me. I'm fine, you should go enjoy yourself with the girls." Beca shook her head. "I love those girls, but I'd rather spend the evening sober with you. Besides, it's not like they will remember most of this anyway."

Chloe sat down in one of the chairs that was still empty. She watched the game the girls were playing, but she wasn't really paying attention. Beca looked around the room and found Dawson in the back looking at Chloe. She made her way over to her coach. and stood next to her for a while.

"You should take her home, she looks tired and she isn't enjoying herself," Dawson said. "I know. But would you be okay with that? I mean, the party was our idea and I wouldn't want to leave you to deal with the mess," Beca responded. "That really considerate of you, but it's fine. I can handle this," Dawson replied.

Beca thanked her coach and made her way over to Chloe. She crouched down next to the chair. "Baby, I'm going to take you home," she said. Chloe looked at her like she wanted to protest, but decided to just give in, because she really wanted to go home. She nodded and got up to get her bag and jacket. Beca announced to the girls that they were leaving, which earned a round of complains. Luckily one deadly look was enough to shut the girls up.

As she turned around to gather her stuff as well, Aubrey got up and walked towards her. "Is everything okay?" she asked. "Can I help?" Beca shook her head. "Bree, it'll be okay. You should have fun tonight, relax a little. I will take care of Chloe."

Aubrey nodded and made her way back to Stacie's lap. Chloe appeared next to Beca with both of their stuff. Beca grabbed her hand and together they walked out into the cool air. They walked to Chloe's apartment in silence, both of them deep in thought. Chloe was still worrying about whether or not she would be able to play and what her life could possibly look like without hockey. Beca was racking her brain, trying to think of a way to help her girlfriend. She was feeling completely useless and wanted to do something to help Chloe.

Silently they walked into the apartment. Chloe didn't get much further than the couch, where she crashed. Beca took her jacket and put it away, before walking over to the couch. She nudged Chloe, so that the girl would make some space for her. When she was seated, Chloe put her head on her lap and closed her eyes. Beca noticed that she wasn't too far from sleep herself, but she didn't want to move, so she leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes as well.

* * *

Beca woke up with a start. She heard noise coming from the door. She first looked down to see if Chloe was still asleep and she found her girlfriend still lying peacefully in her lap. She tried to turn around to look at the door without disturbing Chloe. She saw the door open and Aubrey walking in backwards. Attached to her lips was a very drunk Stacie. The girls were unaware that they were not alone in the room.

Beca was trying to decide between alerting the girls of her presence before things got steamier or just to pretend she was asleep, hoping they would move to Aubrey's bedroom. While she was still deciding, she saw too big blue eyes looking up at her. "Oh my god, are they-," Chloe whispered, and Beca nodded. Chloe looked at her with horror in her eyes.

At this point, Aubrey and Stacie had made their way further into the apartment. They were still a long way from the door to Aubrey's bedroom, when Stacie started to lift Aubrey's shirt. This was really more than Beca ever wanted to see, so she cleared her throat loudly to alert the two tall girls of her presence. Both girls turned in shock and Aubrey's eyes grew wide. Stacie, however, had a playful glint in her eyes.

"Stacie, please keep it in your pants until you're in her room," Beca said with a smirk. She knew Aubrey was probably horrified and couldn't handle a joke right now, but Stacie could handle a little bit of teasing. "Ay ay, captain," she said and she pulled Aubrey towards her bedroom, leaving Beca and Chloe behind in a state of shock.

"Let's go and get you to bed," Beca said as she started to get up. Chloe followed her into her bedroom where they both brushed their teeth and changed. Beca was the first to get ready and she climbed under the sheet. Moments later Chloe joined her. She laid one arm across Beca's stomach and buried her head in Beca's neck. She hummed softly while she got comfortable.

Suddenly she started chuckling. Slowly her soft chuckles turned into a full on laugh. Beca looked at her like she was going crazy at first, but eventually she couldn't hold back her own laugh. It took them a while to calm down again. When they did, Chloe pressed a kiss on Beca's lips. "You are never going to let her forget this, are you?" she asked her girlfriend. "Nope," Beca said with a grin.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: We're almost at the end, I plan on two (maybe three) more chapters, and hope to finish them before the end of the year. If anyone want some distraction during the next week, the HWL finals are starting tomorrow (5 Dec, the men's are already underway), and I bet there is a livestream available somewhere. Anyway, thanks for the support!**

* * *

"Okay girls, this is it. I know we didn't have the smoothest end of the season, but that doesn't mean we can't win this. We have been through alot this year. We worked hard and made each other better. We battled through the bad times and celebrated the good times. And now we have one more task, reward ourselves. We celebrated reaching the playoffs, now let's win them."

The girls started cheering, but Aubrey raised a hand to indicate she was not done yet. Everybody went quiet and waited for the end of the speech.

"Now, I would normally give you some last minute advice or remind you of something we practiced, but I'm not going to do that today. To be honest, I don't think you'll need it. Trust yourself, trust each other and trust your training. Let's do this!"

Now the girls broke into howls and cheers. Amy led the yell and everyone shouted at the top of their lungs. They broke the huddle and ran to their positions to start the game. They were feeling hungry. The whole season had been working up to this moment, making it to the playoffs, but they were not done yet.

They ended their season in second place, with Naomi's team in first. This meant that they would have to play the champions of one of the other three districts. Since they were second, they weren't awarded the home field advantage. If they won, they would have to battle for a finals spot in the semi-finals. Just three games were standing between them and the championship.

But they weren't looking that far ahead right now, they were just focussing on winning this one game. They all knew what their opponents could do, they had looked at game footage, stats and every game report they could find. They knew the specialities and weaknesses of each of the girls and exactly how to deal with that. They had been preparing for this game for two weeks. They were ready.

Aubrey had lost the toss, so their opponents would start the game. As soon as the whistle blew everybody started moving. Barden started out with a full-court press. The girls were chasing the ball deep into their opponent's half. Their pressure soon forced the error, which won them the ball. The opposing team played using a man-to-man cover in defense, but Aubrey and Beca devised a game play to break down their defense. The attackers would be covered at all times, so they planned a different approach. Beca took the free hit near the circle and Aubrey rushed forward. She received the ball while running full speed and surprised the defenders. They all had their own attacker to cover, so nobody was left to stop Aubrey. With incredible speed she hit the ball goal-bound. The goalie was beaten and Barden was ahead.

A little over an hour later the Barden girls were gathered in a circle, jumping up and down. They had overcome their first challenge on the way to the championship. Aubrey tried to calm the girls down, but it was no use right now. All the hard work from the last few weeks had paid off and everybody felt relieved. Aubrey could relate to that, so she let the girls celebrate for now.

They were in control from the moment they scored the first goal. The girls executed the plays they had worked on perfectly. After halftime the opposing team switched their defensive strategy, but Beca had predicted this, so Barden already had the answer. Sure, the game wasn't entirely flawless, they still conceded one goal, but they were definitely on the right track, and they had another week of practices before their next game.

Aubrey looked at her tiny co-captain but didn't see her amongst the girls on the field. She looked around and found her near the dugout, dragging Chloe towards the girls.

"You are a part of the team, you should celebrate with us," she heard Beca say. Chloe looked hesitant, but still followed her girlfriend towards the Barden team. As she joined the girls broke out in cheers again, and they embraced Chloe in an awkward, sweaty group hug. Beca was still at her girlfriend's side trying to fight the girls off.

"Watch the shoulder guys," she shouted, which prompted the girls to step back. They started to calm down a bit to Aubrey's relieve and made their way over to the dugout. Each of the girls gave Dawson a high five, or in Amy's case a big sweaty hug. Aubrey was one of the last girls to reach her.

"You did well out there today, Aubrey. You are a really talented player, but more so a great captain for your team. You know, you would make a great coach one day," Dawson told her.

Before Aubrey could properly respond she was tackled from behind. A large brunette pressed her lips against her cheek. She then proceeded to try and turn Aubrey around. Aubrey threw an apologetic glance at Dawson, who smiled at her before walking towards Beca and Chloe.

"You were great today, babe. And you are totally hot when you are in captain-mode," Stacie said. Aubrey wanted to respond but was silenced by the Stacie leaning forward and kissing her. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. She couldn't believe she has gotten this lucky.

* * *

The busride back to Barden was one big party. Music was blasting and the girls were singing along at the top of their lungs. Beca was surprised that most of the girls were actually really good singers. She had heard Chloe sing before around the house, so she knew her girlfriend was quite talented, but she had never expected this from Aubrey.

When Miley Cyrus came on Beca rolled her eyes. She had refused to sing along up to this point, and was definitely not going to start now. Chloe was singing in her ear, and when she turned around she saw that all the girls were looking at her. She turned back towards the window and tried to ignore them, but they started singing increasingly louder as the chorus was ending. She looked at her girlfriend, and instantly knew that was a mistake. Chloe's eyes were big and she was looking at Beca in a way she knew her girlfriend couldn't resist.

"So I put my hands up!" She had finally given in and all the girls were cheering. Chloe was smiling at her and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek in between lines. God, she loved this dorky redhead. It was nice to see Chloe smiling again, the last few weeks have been mostly forced smiles that didn't quite reach her eyes. Beca wanted to make everything better for her girlfriend, but the only thing that would heal Chloe's shoulder was rest. And that didn't combine too well with Chloe's bouncy character.

When they were almost back at Barden it was already dark outside and Beca's throat was hurting. Once she had joined the girls with singing, it was hard to stop and so most of the ride was spent singing along to the most embarrassing songs. Stacie had whipped her phone out at one point and recorded some of the singing, but Beca wasn't too worried, since she still had some blackmailing material herself.

* * *

The next week was similar to the two weeks previous, the girls focussed almost solely on training. Beca even tried to skip a few classes to prepare training drills, but Chloe forced her to go. She knew it was for the better and she hadn't been on top of her classes lately, so she listened to Chloe without too much protest. She still didn't like it.

They were well prepared and excited for the next game. Even more so because it would be a home game. The guys would all come and watch, and they made a point of inviting the entire student body to come as well. Although hockey wasn't such a high-profile sport at Barden, the girls still got quite the attention for reaching the semis. This meant a lot of extra pressure to perform well, but everybody was confident..

Jesse was already on the field when the girls came out of the dressing rooms to start warming up. He pulled Dawson and Chloe aside. They called over Aubrey a moment later and Beca was left to lead warm up. She could she Aubrey and Chloe arguing, Aubrey shaking her head and Chloe looking disappointed. The discussion didn't last long, because soon Aubrey was back and Jesse was walking off the field towards his teammates. Before Beca could say anything, she was cut off.

"Don't ask, Beca. We will talk about this after the game."

She let it drop and concentrated on warming up her muscles. From time to time she glanced at her girlfriend, who was organizing their dugout, talking to Dawson or just looking at the team. Chloe looked mad, which wasn't something that happened often. Beca wanted to go over there and talk to her and hug her, but she knew now wasn't the time to get into that, it would have to wait until after the game.

The game got on its way, and Barden found out they weren't just 11 girls in the field. They had their fans cheering them on, which gave them the extra strength to push through. This game was clearly harder than the last game, and they hadn't expected anything less. But they were also better than the last game.

They were strong from the beginning, working together as a team, passing at the right time, backing each other up and finding each other without looking. Nothing could stop them. And at every play there was a crowd of people cheering, giving them just that bit extra to run a little faster or shoot a little harder.

Of course, their opponents fought back, but Beca could see them lose faith every time they lost a ball. Every time the crowd cheered Barden on, their opponent got more insecure. They started making more and more mistakes. They had held Barden off until halftime, but just barely. When the girls stepped back onto the field, the difference was all too clear. Barden was looking strong, fit and sure, while their opponents looked small and weak. The first goal broke them. The one goal lead was doubled quickly and Barden just kept going. Two turned into three, then four, and Stacie even got a last minute goal in to make it five.

After shaking hands with their opponents, the Barden team ran a cool down run around the field and thanked the crowd. They never had this many people come and watch them and the support was amazing. Beca could swear she saw some people from her classes with Barden T-shirts on, even people she never spoke to. She saw the guys standing near her dugout and next to them was her father. He looked so proud, and Beca made a mental note to thank him for coming later.

She would have walked over immediately, if she hadn't looked over at her girlfriend at that moment. Normally Chloe was the first person to hug Aubrey when she came off the field, but now she was acting like the blonde wasn't even there. Aubrey tried to approach her, but as soon as she saw the look on Chloe's face she aborted her mission. Beca went over instead and pulled her girlfriend into a hug.

"Babe, is everything okay? What were you and Aubrey arguing about?" Beca asked.

"I'm fine. I'll tell you later, you should get showered first," Chloe answered, before pulling her face in an obviously fake smile. Beca looked at her for a moment longer, but knew she wasn't going to get anything out of the girl, so she nodded.

"But we're going to talk about this later, okay?"


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Have a nice week!**

* * *

That evening Beca was finally alone with Chloe. She wanted to get away earlier, but Fat Amy dragged her along to celebrate their victory. She had persuaded the other girls to join her for drinks. Luckily Aubrey forced the girls to break it up early, pointing out that they still had one more week of practice and one more game to go. Beca hadn't seen much of Chloe after the game, so she was glad when she finally got away from Amy and could start looking for her.

She found her sitting in her own room, which was weird considering they always hung out at Chloe's. She walked towards her girlfriend and sat down next to her. Normally Chloe would initiate physical contact, but she didn't this time, so Beca wrapped her in a hug. Chloe finally acknowledged her and leaned into her.

"Babe, please tell me what happened with you and Aubrey. I've never seen you angry at her."

Chloe took a big breath before starting her story. "Jesse came up to us and asked us if it was okay to play some music, you know, like the guys always do. I thought it was a great idea, but Dawson wanted to ask Aubrey as well, since she is in charge of our warming up. She immediately shot down the idea and wouldn't even listen to me. I snapped at her and told her that she shouldn't be so stuck up. Then she said I didn't have a say in this because I was not even playing."

Beca looked at her in shock. Aubrey knew that Chloe had been down about not being able to play and this was a low blow. Of course both co-captains were under immense pressure the last few weeks, but that was still no excuse.

"Chlo, I'm sure she didn't mean it, just like you didn't mean what you said. If you talk to her and apologize I'm sure everything will be fine."

Chloe nodded. "I know, but I'm too tired for that now, is it okay if I crash here?"

Beca now noticed the overnight bag on the floor. She wanted to ask Chloe if sleeping together in her tiny bed would hurt her shoulder, but imagined that this wasn't what Chloe wanted to hear right now, so she just told her it was fine and kissed her on her cheek.

* * *

The next morning Beca woke up to a strange sound. She felt the body behind her move before reaching over her to grab something of the night stand. She realized it must have been Chloe's alarm. She turned around to face the sleepy redhead. Chloe gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Beca asked. "It's only…" At this point she realized she had no idea how late it was, so she grabbed her own phone and looked at the time. "Eight. Come back to bed!"

Chloe looked at her with a frustrated look. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Beca wrecked her mind to find out what exactly she could have forgotten. Then she saw the notification on her phone.

"Of course I didn't forget, babe," she said while getting up herself. She had promised to come along to Chloe's doctor's appointment. Today was the day the doctor decided whether Chloe was allowed to play next weekend. Chloe didn't want her to come, because she had a lecture in the morning, but this time Beca was the more stubborn one of the two.

When they were finally both fully dressed there was a knock on the door. Chloe had already opened it. Before the door had completely opened the person on the other side started talking.

"Beca, thank god you're home. Have you seen Chloe? She didn't come home and she has her doctor's appointment and, oh…"

When she saw who had opened the door she stopped talking and released a sigh of relief. Then she marched forward and wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"I'm so sorry about what I said. I really shouldn't have let the stress get to me like that. It was stupid, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have called you stuck up. I missed you," Chloe responded.

"Guys, as much as I like seeing you all happy again, we do have an appointment to get to," Beca interrupted.

Aubrey let go of Chloe, who started looking for her bag. She found the item in question and gathered her keys and phone. Beca and Aubrey waited patiently until she told them that she was ready to go.

They arrived at the hospital in time, but had to wait for a while, since the doctor had an emergency. The longer they waited, the more impatient Chloe got. She first started tapping her finger, then her feet joined, and soon she was tapping a full-blown percussion and was humming along. Beca found it endearing, but they got some scowls from the other people in the waiting room.

Just when Beca put her hand on Chloe's to stop the tapping, a doctor walked into the room.

"Miss Beale?" he called out. Chloe, Beca and Aubrey got up and walked towards him. He shook all of their hands and introduced himself. The girls followed him into the examination room where he asked Chloe to take off her top. After she did so he carefully grabbed her arm and started moving it in different positions while his other hand probed her shoulder. While doing so he seemed to talk to himself a bit and hummed from time to time.

After he released Chloe's arm and told her to get dressed again, he turned towards his computer and started typing something. He asked Chloe some questions about how it the shoulder had been feeling in different situations and typed up the answers. He soon turned back to the girls who were waiting in anticipation.

"Okay, so I think it is coming along nicely, the healing is looking really good and you are nearly at full function. That being said, I still feel some strain in certain directions, so I would say that you should try and keep about a week more rest to be sure that it is fully healed."

Chloe's face fell and Beca was sure that she was close to crying. She was shocked herself, she really hadn't expected this. Chloe didn't seem to be in pain the last week and she had been out running and training in the gym to be sure that she would be top fit when she returned to the field. It all seemed to be for nothing now.

"Couldn't the strain you feel have another source, like general tension or stress or maybe a prior injury that made her shoulder less mobile to begin with?" Aubrey suddenly asked.

The doctor looked confused, he was obviously not used to such an open questioning of his advice.

"Yes, it could have other sources, but given her medical history and age I don't think it is very likely. Besides, an extra week of rest doesn't hurt."

"Chloe is one of the best college field hockey players in the country. She has to play the championship this weekend, so an extra week of rest does hurt. Now, would this change your advice?" Aubrey responded.

The doctor was taken aback by the sharpness in the request. He turned around towards the computer. After reading something he turned back towards the girls.

"Uhm, I guess we could work something out. I could advise on some exercises to train your shoulder and if you try to avoid big hits to the shoulder everything should be fine."

Suddenly Chloe sprang up from the place she was sitting and hugged the doctor. As soon as she realized what she had done, she released him and walked over to hug her best friend.

* * *

The girls cheered as Chloe stepped onto the field. She was allowed to join practice, but still avoided most of the exercises with defenders. She wasn't about to risk injuring her shoulder anew. Having been out of the game for a few weeks had left her skills a little rusty, but Beca knew it was just a matter of a few practices to get Chloe back to her old level.

Chloe wasn't so sure about that. The first practice she had mostly been happy that she was playing at all, but as the week progressed she got more frustrated with herself. She just didn't seem to manage to move her stick as fast as she did before, and the more frustrated she got, the worse it got.

She tried to talk to Beca and Aubrey about it, but both girls said the same thing. It would be fine. She would have to be a bit more patient. This was to be expected. She shouldn't worry too much about it. But she did, it was the only thing on her mind. Nothing was more important to her than this.

After the last practice she asked Beca, Aubrey and Dawson to stay behind. All three of them had a look of worry in their eyes as they sat in the dugout. Chloe was pacing in front of them, waiting for the last girl to walk off the field.

"You probably guessed why I asked to talk to you. I have not been playing well the last week." She saw Beca wanted to interrupt her, but a look of warning shut her up. "I know the girls we're up against, I played some of them when I was training with the national team. They're not only incredibly talented hockey players, but they are also really strong. They like to play a physical game. I just don't think I'm up for that, I haven't had the best preparation, and I fear playing this game will do more harm than good. Both for myself and the team."

"Wait, are you saying that you don't want to play the championship game?" Beca asked in disbelief.

"I want to, I just can't."

Chloe looked down at the floor. She didn't know what she expected them to say. She knew she could handle another "but it will be fine", so before anyone could say anything, she turned around and walked away.

Dawson told Beca and Aubrey to stay put and caught up with Chloe. Beca turned to Aubrey.

"I have an idea."


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Sorry to keep you guys waiting for so long. Don't worry, I have every intention to finish the story! I wanted to make one big chapter, but decided to split it into two smaller chapters, so here is the first one.**

* * *

The girls walked onto the field. They were the visiting team, having been ranked the lowest of the two in the play-offs. That meant that they had to take a long trip to get here. The trip had been filled with laughter, singing and excitement. That also meant that they would not have many supporters present. It was just them this time, they would have to find support in each other.

Chloe was standing next to Dawson. The coach had convinced her to at least come and join the team before the game during warm up. She had agreed reluctantly, only because she knew Dawson could be persistent. At least she felt like she was part of the team, even when she couldn't contribute to the game.

When the rest of the girls started getting ready for the warm up, Chloe saw Beca walk over to the dug out area and drag out a large bag. She had seen Beca carry the bag before, but had not thought much of it. Now she saw Beca pull out her laptop and some extra speakers. Then the small girl nodded at Aubrey, who took the cue and gathered the girls.

When Aubrey started the warm up, Beca started the music. Chloe recognized the intro of one of her favourite songs, but it was not how she knew it. Before she could pinpoint what was different, the music flowed into a different song. Beca caught up with the group and was now running next to her.

"Chlo, this is for you," she said with a big grin.

Chloe listened to the mix flow and evolve. The music contained at least a dozen songs, most of which were among Chloe's favourites. With the music in the background, Aubrey turned up the intensity of the warm up a bit and the entire team followed. The music was still going when Aubrey called for the girls to get their sticks. Chloe took this break to talk to her girlfriend.

"Thank you so much for making this for me. And for convincing Aubrey to let you play it. How did you manage that?"

"Anything for you, Chloe. I love you," Beca responded. She wanted to explain how exactly she convinced Aubrey, but before she could do so, the blonde screamed at them from across the field.

"Hey, lovebirds. Would you be so kind to join us?"

* * *

Beca felt the nervous energy in her team. She herself hadn't been able to relax over the last week either, because this game was a big deal. For the seniors it was the last chance to prove themselves. She wanted to go out there not just for herself, but for all the other girls in her team that had become her best friends over the course of last year.

Quite a big crowd had gathered to watch the game, but none of them were wearing Barden blue. During a small break in the warming up, Beca had glanced over at the other side of the field. Their opponents were decked out in a dark red uniform with a lion on the front. The team called themselves the Red Lions, and Beca had seen some footage of previous games where they would roar during the yell. It was intimidating as hell.

They all looked tall and strong. She recognized at least a few as having played for the junior national squad. Chloe had told her about some girls that she met during her time training with the national team. She had warned the Barden girls that these opponents were nothing like they had faced before. They were stronger, faster and tougher than any of the other teams.

The only way they could beat them was by using strategy and teamwork. The Lions might be strong and tough, but they were also all competitors of each other. Beca had heard some rumours about them injuring each other in practice, just to eliminate the competition. Barden would have to work together and be a team.

The referee blew his whistle and gestured that the teams should get ready. Barden gathered at the top of the circle and Aubrey stepped forward into their midst.

"Well girls, this is it! We made it to the championship game and that is something to be proud of. We haven't had the best year, but despite everything we came through and made it here. And if we lose here today, we will still have had an amazing season."

Beca and Chloe both looked incredulous. This was not the sort of speech either would expect to come from Aubrey.

"But that's not going to happen, is it, girls?" Aubrey continued. "Because we are not finished yet. We are not going to celebrate just yet. We have one more game to win, and we are going to crush it. We are going to fight for each other. We are going to win this game as a team and we are going to take the championship back to Barden. And you know, we are going to do this all while having fun. So let's get out there and show those bitches how to play hockey!"

The girls cheered in support. They were ready to get out there and play some hockey. Beca made her way over to her position on the left, while Chloe was positioned just behind Stacie on the midfield. Behind her Aubrey looked out over the field at her players. She was extremely proud of what her team had already achieved, but deep in her heart, she craved one more thing today, and that was to win.

Aubrey had lost the toss, so the Lions started the game. Dawson had instructed the girls to hang back and play half-court first, to see how their opponents would react. She banked on them taking it easy and underestimating them. The Lions didn't take it too easy, though. They were playing high pressure right from the start. Their passes were sharp, sometimes too sharp for their own players, and they played very physical within the circle. Barden did great in defense, but still conceded a penalty corner ten minutes into the first half.

Aubrey was happy that her team was playing better than they had ever played, but it didn't seem like that would be enough to win this game. They first had to focus on stopping this penalty corner. She grabbed her extra protection and joined the girls in the goal. They didn't have to say much, because everybody knew their role.

The corner was taken quickly. The shot was low and hard, but Cynthia Rose read the shooter right and blocked the shot with a dive. Aubrey could hear Dawson cheering on the sideline. However, they still had to face the next long corner the Lions were allowed to take. This was expertly defended by Fat Amy and shot out of the circle. Stacie picked it up around midfield and started running. She had nowhere to pass, since all the girls had dropped back to defense.

She didn't come too far before she was tackled viciously. She dropped to the ground, but got up quickly. Before she could start cursing, Aubrey was already at her side and walking towards the ref. She was furious about the tackle and asked for a yellow card for the defender. The referee was only willing to hand out a green card and formal warning.

Stacie dragged Aubrey away from the ref and ensured her that she was okay. Aubrey calmed down and moved back to her position. Chloe walked up to the ball to take the free out. This was the first time Barden was attacking in their opponent's half. Following instructions shouted by Aubrey, the girls started to move between their defenders. Chloe passed the ball to the sideline where Beca was waiting. She was immediately pressured by a defender and had to pass the ball back. Chloe was also covered, so she had to play a wild pass forward. The ball crossed the back line without reaching any of the attackers.

Barden had a hard time getting into the opponent's half again. They were almost constantly defending, and although they could stop most attacks, they never managed to actually get rid of the ball. More often than not it was just slammed towards the sideline or the other side of the field. The Lions hadn't managed to score, but it was only a matter of time.

Five minutes before halftime the long awaited goal finally fell. One of the midfielders of the Lions ran up through the middle. Chloe was there, but she hesitated just long enough for the attacker to make a move. Now Barden was down in numbers in defense. The girl kept going, she almost lost the ball to Aubrey at the top of the circle, but managed to hold on to it, and pulled off a shot at goal. Cynthia Rose didn't have the best vision on the ball, because the circle was way too crowded and the ball shot just passed her legguards.

Chloe was standing in the circle looking lost. She felt like this goal was her fault. She hesitated because she didn't want to take a body check, but she should have just gone for it and now they were one goal behind.

The Lions cheered and their crowd joined in. Suddenly Barden was facing not just an incredibly strong team, but also a wall of sound produced by their fans. The whole thing was extremely intimidating. Aubrey felt small, something that didn't happen often. That was, until she heard someone screaming next to her.

"Come on girls, five minutes. We've got this, we just need five minutes."

Everybody in the Barden team looked at their small captain. Beca was screaming at the top of her lungs. She told the team to hang in there, to hold them off for five minutes. Then they could rest and regroup. They just needed five minutes.

The remainder of the first half was tough, but the Lions had lost a bit of their focus and sharpness, so they weren't putting as much pressure on Barden. This allowed them to pass more in defense and relax just a little bit as the clock ticked down.

When the referee finally blew his whistle to indicate halftime Aubrey was relieved. They could have done so much worse than one goal down. She just hoped Beca had some plans to turn this game around.

* * *

 **A/N: The cards in hockey are a bit different than you might be used to from football/soccer:**

 **Green card: Dependent on the level either just a warning, or a 2-minute penalty.**

 **Yellow card: 5 to 10 minute suspension dependent on the severity of the foul.**

 **Red card: Exclusion from the rest of the game (and dependent on the severity of the foul, further penalties may be awarded like additional suspensions or a fine).**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Thank you to everybody who read this story! I'm sorry for the irregular updating towards the end. This is going to be the last chapter, but I'm thinking about writing a epilogue to properly finish the story. Again, thank you for all the support! Enjoy!**

* * *

The girls looked like a bunch of lost puppies. They were sitting in the changing room waiting for Aubrey to yell at them. The yelling never came, as Aubrey felt just as lost as her team. She had no clue what to say to get the girls back on track. Objectively, they weren't even doing that badly, they were just the one goal behind, but everybody could feel that mentally they were much further behind.

Chloe was sitting in the corner, looking even more hopeless than her teammates. She got scared and did not go for the tackle. She let her team down, and it was her fault that they were behind. She wanted to make things right, but felt like she couldn't. She wasn't prepared, she hadn't been training and felt weak. Maybe the best thing for her to do was just ride the bench in the second half. Someone else could take her place, someone that wasn't afraid to take a hit.

All the girls looked up when they heard the door. Dawson walked in with Beca closely behind. Aubrey had seen the tiny captain talk to Dawson and she hoped the two had come up with a plan. Beca looked at her, as if she was asking permission to take the floor. Aubrey nodded encouragingly.

"That sucked," Beca started. A few girls laughed, others just scoffed. "So, what do you say, shall we call it a day? Cut our losses and go home? I mean, we made it to second place, that is more than anyone had expected. And it doesn't seem like we're going to win, right?"

The girls looked at her with disbelief. Where was their captain going with this? She wasn't serious about quitting, right? Aubrey made eye contact with Beca, and she could see that the freshman had something up her sleeve. She sat back and looked around at the team. The girls had started murmuring things like 'but we're only one goal behind' and 'we can't give up now'. Beca waited a few more moments, until Amy finally spoke up.

"Of course nobody wants to give up, but it's not like we can just work harder. We are killing ourselves out there and can't even get a ball into their circle. They are so much bigger and better, even you can't get past them."

"Exactly, we shouldn't try to get past them." This earned Beca another round of incredulous looks. "We should try to go around them. The entire game they have been seeking the one-on-one situations and they always come out on top. They don't pass, they don't work together. So we are going to do the exact opposite. We are going to be a team. We are going to trust each other blindly. Avoid any and all one-on-one situations and just keep passing. Pretend that the ball is a ticking time bomb that can go off at any second. Never keep it for more than a few seconds, but keep passing. That way they can never get a grip on us."

The girls looked at her with interest. This seemed like a half decent plan, a plan that might actually work. And it was simple enough. If it turned out to be horrible, they could easily go back to their old strategy. Aubrey was very impressed with this insight from her co-captain.

The girls were all murmuring their approval of the plan, and slowly the murmurs turned into cheers. They were stoked to get out there again and crush this game. With complete faith in their captain and each other, they should at least have a shot at the championship. Aubrey got up and replaced Beca in the center of the group, causing the group to fall silent again. Normally she would have some elaborate discussion of the mistakes they could fix, but she knew that was not needed right now, so she kept her speech short.

"Let's do this!" she yelled, initiating a round of cheers from her team. The girls got up and walked out of the changing rooms. Dawson followed the team, she would brief them on the starting positions for the second half on the field. This left just the three co-captains in the room. From just one look it was clear to Aubrey that Beca also had a plan to get Chloe back on track. She nodded at Beca and followed her team.

Beca walked towards the redhead, who was still sitting in the corner. Chloe did not look up at her as she approached, and actively avoided her gaze. Even when Beca crouched down in front of her and took her hand, she still did not dare to look at the tiny freshman.

"I was afraid, I couldn't do it. I should have tackled her, but I couldn't. She was just so big, and I was afraid that my shoulder… I shouldn't be playing." Chloe finally looked up at Beca. She had expected a worried look, or maybe even an angry look. She didn't expect to see her girlfriend smirking at her.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked. She knew Beca long enough to determine that this was really weird behaviour. She had no idea what the brunette had up her sleeve, but she couldn't imagine her saying anything to get her back on the pitch.

"You're going to play, but not on midfield," Beca said. Chloe raised her eyebrows. She had played midfield as long as she could remember. She didn't think she could even play another position. Besides, she didn't see how this was going to resolve the problem.

"Look, I get that you are afraid to go in for the tackle. Those girls are seriously big, believe me, I know." Chloe couldn't hold back a tiny giggle. "But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't play. If we put you in as a forward, you never actually have to tackle anyone. You just have to use those legs of yours and keep pressuring them."

Chloe shook her head. "Becs, I appreciate the thought, but I have never played as a forward. It would be better to actually put in one of the forwards. I'm not going to do much good there."

"Chlo, I'm not proposing this as some sort of consolidation, this is actually part of the strategy. If we are going to pass more, we need people up front who hang back a bit and participate in the game on midfield. Some of our attackers are really good at the running game, but we don't need that right now. We need someone who can effortlessly connect with the midfielders. You are perfect for that. And seriously, if I didn't think this was the best thing to do, I wouldn't have proposed it."

Chloe looked at her girlfriend pensively. That actually made some sense. And with the change of tactics, she didn't have to be afraid of any hard tackles up front, since she wasn't actually going to have the ball for longer than a few seconds at a time. She might actually be able to pull this off.

"And if it doesn't work, or if you're not comfortable, you can always sub out," Beca continued, when Chloe didn't respond. Before she could continue her argument, Chloe pulled her in for a hug. The hug turned into a kiss, which was only stopped when they heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.

"Guys, the game is about to get underway," Aubrey said, with one eyebrow raised.

The Lions walked onto the field seeming even more confident than before, their behaviour bordering cocky. Some were riling up the crowd, others were throwing menacing looks at the Barden girls. Interestingly, the more confident they were, the less intimidated Aubrey was. This was only going to be advantageous to Barden, they will not know what hit them.

The game got underway and soon enough Barden was driven back into their own half. They had managed to get a few good passes of, but lost the ball and were feeling the pressure of the Lions again. A few of the girls seemed to lose faith again, but Aubrey was not going to let that happen. Normally she would start to yell instructions at her defenders, but instead she started yelling encouragements. The first one felt weird, and she indeed received some bewildered looks from her defenders, but after they had fenced of the first attempt of the Lions to enter the circle, the girls started following her lead. Of course they were still communicating instructions on positioning, but these were now accompanied by words of encouragement.

Soon they had recovered the ball. Now they could start to build up their own attack. Aubrey decided to go for a simple sideway pass. As soon as the ball was received by the defender on the sideline, she moved into position to allow the pass back. She received it and found Beca a few yards away. Beca received the ball and immediately passed to the sideline, just before one of the Lions could step in.

The attack build up according to plan, and within just a few passes the ball reached the Lions' circle. Stacie received the ball inside the circle and was about to get a shot off, when she was tackled again. She fell to the ground and grabbed her ankle. The defender had tried to shoot the ball away from her, but instead hit her just above her shoe. Aubrey was ready to start yelling at the referee, but was stopped by Beca.

"It's no use, go check on Stacie." Aubrey nodded after she saw that they were rewarded a penalty corner. To her disappointment the defender only got a verbal warning and no card was drawn. She walked over to the tall brunette lying on the field. She helped Stacie up and supported her as she hobbled towards the bench. As she walked out of the field, she saw Chloe getting ready. She then looked over at Beca, who smiled knowingly.

Before she could think much of it, she had to get back to her position, as the penalty corner was about to get underway. They didn't set up a second castle, as both Stacie and Chloe were out of the game at the moment. Chloe couldn't come in until the penalty corner was over. Beca got ready and put her game face on.

When the ball was injected, it seemed like time slowed down. She took two big steps forward to line up with Jessica as the ball came to a stop at the top of the circle. Jessica removed her stick just before Beca made contact with the ball. She continued her movement and felt the ball rolling comfortably in her stick. The release was fast and high. Beca expected to hear the sound of ball hitting either the backboard or the net, but instead she hears something else.

She looks up to see the defender that had tackled Stacie lying on the ground grabbing her knee. At the same time the extremely tall captain of the Lions was walking up to her shouting accusations.

"You did this on purpose, you wanted revenge." The captain turned towards the referee. "Look what she did, this was obviously on purpose. She deserves red card."

The referee shot her down and walked towards Beca. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a green card. Beca sighed in relief. The opposing captain was furious and kept harassing the referee. Beca couldn't help but notice that nobody was helping the defender that was still lying on the ground. She didn't want to get involved, but she also felt guilty about what happened, so she walked towards the girl. She said her apologies and offered a hand, but the girl refused to take it. Before she could do anything else, Chloe came up behind her and pulled her away.

"Becs, it isn't your fault, there's nothing you can do. Better not risk them thinking you are trying to provoke her." Beca nodded and followed her girlfriend back to midfield. Here Aubrey had gathered the girls for a quick pep talk. As Beca joined, she received a cheeky smile from the blonde captain, something not even Chloe had seen before.

"I know you didn't do it on purpose, but I must say I'm not too sad about what happened. Let's play some hockey. We are going to crush them!"

The girls all cheered and started moving back to their positions. The Lions had finally helped their wounded player off the pitch and were ready to get the game started.

* * *

And just like that, the momentum had changed. The Lions had lost their attitude and seemed almost scared. Instead of stopping her passes, they would jump away whenever Beca hit a hard ball. They still got some attacks going, but Aubrey's defense was airtight and Cynthia Rose didn't receive any balls she couldn't handle.

Unfortunately, the Lions' defense was at least as good. They had trouble with the Barden passing game, but eventually managed to clear the ball every time. As time passed, Barden was playing against the clock more and more. Before they knew it, they had just ten minutes to play and were still one goal behind.

Their opponents knew this as well, and they started wasting time whenever they had the ball. They played it around in the back, or took a long time to take the free hit. The Barden attackers were trying to pressure the Lions, but they always managed to get another free hit out of it, which meant more time was wasted.

Beca looked at the clock anxiously, they had only five more minutes to play. Five minutes to score a goal. Five minutes between the Lions and the championship. She was not going to let that happen. She spurred the attackers on, forcing even more pressure on the Lions. The ball was now near the backline of the Lions. A defender tried forcing the ball into the corner to waste more time. Luckily, Chloe was doing an excellent job of forcing her the other way.

Lilly came in to set up a double. Now the defender had nowhere to go. If she would stay stationary, it would be a foul, if she moved she would be blocked by the players on either side. With one eye on the clock, Beca awaited the player's decision. She heard one of the Lions shout something, but wasn't paying enough attention to know what was yelled.

Suddenly the defensive player made a move. She played the ball high over Chloe's stick, but her aim was off, causing the ball to cross the backline. Beca ran forward to set up for the long corner, but when she looked at the umpire, she saw him give a different signal. He awarded them the penalty corner.

Barden set up the corner. Although Chloe was on the pitch, she wasn't going to inject. They had decided that the motion would be too strenuous on her shoulder. Instead, Lilly was standing at the backline and Chloe was lined up at the top of the circle left of Beca. They had set up a second castle as well, hoping it would create a diversion.

When the ball was injected, it was clear that the Lions were not fooled. The first defender ran towards Beca, but was far too slow. Two of the defenders stayed near the posts, and the last stopped around the penalty spot. Beca dragged the ball, but to her dismay, she shot it right through the middle at a comfortable height. The keeper was already down, but she had a relatively easy save with her legguards. The ball bounced back at an angle, and bounced right in front of Chloe.

Without hesitation, Chloe swung her stick at the incoming ball. It was already lifted, but her hit gave it new momentum in the opposite direction. The ball flew right above the keeper and into the goal. For a moment, Chloe just stood there perplexed. It was not too long before she felt familiar arms around her. She heard her teammates scream in her ear and received pats and hugs as she made her way back to her own side of the pitch.

Beca and Chloe both looked at the clock. Three minutes. That was doable, right? The Lions started the game, and Barden was immediately pressuring. They weren't going to hold back now, they had the Lions right where they wanted them. Scared and hiding in their own backfield. Chloe ran tirelessly and eventually forced the error near the corner of the field.

She looked up to find a midfielder that could take the free hit, but saw that they were all too far away. She decided to waste no time and just take it herself. As soon as she took off with the ball, a defender came in to tackle her. She didn't hesitate this time, and easily played through the legs of the defender. A second defender came in, but Chloe moved the ball away from her and passed her easily.

Now she was only faced with the goalkeeper, who was running at her. The goalkeeper was quickly closing the gap between them, and started to slide over the field for a block tackle. Without hesitation Chloe flicked the ball with her backhand, just high enough so it would fly over the keeper. She saw the ball fly into the air, but before she could see the outcome of her action, she felt her legs being swept from under her. She flew through the air over the keeper. Her stick was pulled out of her hands. Before she could brace herself, she hit the field.

People around her were yelling. She couldn't make out who was yelling and what they were yelling about. She also heard cheering, and suddenly between all the noise she heard her name. The source of this sound was rapidly approaching. When she opened her eyes, she saw Beca leaning over her, still calling her name.

"Chloe, are you okay? Please talk to me, Chloe. Did you hit your shoulder? Please, be okay."

Chloe took a moment to investigate her body. Was she feeling any pain? She tried to flex some muscles in her shoulder to see if they would respond. No pain, that was good. She turned to Beca and responded.

"I'm okay."

Beca's face showed the immense relief that washed over her. Still, she wasn't sure if Chloe was just trying to console her or if she was really okay. Chloe slowly got up to a sitting position with the help of Beca. Then she saw Dawson and Aubrey approaching. She ensured both of them that she was okay.

She raised her arm and spun it around to test her shoulder again. It seemed fine. Everything seemed fine. She finally took the chance to look around her. Her teammates were standing a few feet away, all looking awfully worried. The opponent's goalkeeper and captain were talking to the umpire. The Lions were all huddled together near their dugout. She turned towards the scoreboard.

 _1-2_

"I scored?" she asked her girlfriend. A huge grin appeared on Beca's face as she nodded.

"Yes, we won thanks to you."

Chloe looked at the scoreboard again, this time to check the time to play. The time had run out just after her goal. They had won the championship. She quickly got up and threw her arms around Beca.

"We won!" she shouted. She released her girlfriend to hug her best friend. When the team saw that their captain was okay, they all came running towards them. The hug turned into a big group hug, thanks to Amy of course. Somehow the group hug then turned into a big circle of celebration, which prompted several speeches. Beca couldn't remember most of what was said, because the only thing she was paying attention to was her girlfriend looking the happiest she had ever seen her.

After their own little celebration came the official ceremony. Because all the fans were Lions fans, it wasn't too memorable, but none of the Barden girls cared. They were in their own little world, celebrating with their best friends. The ceremony was followed by more hugs, kissing the trophy and champagne that seemed to come out of nowhere. The whole thing didn't last long, but was the happiest moment in most of their lives so far.

As the celebrations came to an end, everybody started packing up. They were all exhausted and wanted to get back to Barden. They showered quickly and headed for the bus. Beca and Chloe were both a bit slower to get into the shower, as all of their teammates wanted to hug and congratulate them personally. They ended up leaving the dressing room last. As they exited, Beca took Chloe's hand and pulled her aside.

"I love you so much, and I'm so proud of you. You are the reason Barden won today," Beca said to her girlfriend. Before Chloe could reply, she was already caught in a kiss. She felt Beca's hand secure around her waist as Beca pulled her against her own body. Chloe draped her arm around Beca's neck. Beca turned her around, so that her back was pressing against the wall, while Beca was leaning against her.

"Guys, I'm sorry to interrupt you again, but we're all waiting for you," Aubrey's voice sounded.

"Yes, and Beca, could you please keep it in you pants until you're in her room," Stacie added.

Beca stepped back, rolled her eyes, and pecked Chloe on her lips before grabbing both their bags.

"We'll finish this when we get back," she said with a wink.

* * *

 **A/N: This is to clarify some of the play that was mentioned in the chapter. First of all, it is not allowed to deliberately play the ball over your own backline. The penalty for this is a penalty corner. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but in field hockey you are allowed to take a free hit with a 'selfpass', meaning you don't have to actually pass the ball, but you can just run with it yourself.**


End file.
